Kerry saved Green Beret's life while under fire, earned Bronze Star

[Maddy McCall]

Here is the info on the specific event at the center of Kerry's Des Moines' rally today:





But two weeks after he arrived in Vietnam, the swift boat mission changed -- and Kerry went from having one of the safest assignments in the escalating conflict to one of the most dangerous. Under the newly launched Operation SEALORD, swift boats were charged with patrolling the narrow waterways of the Mekong Delta to draw fire and smoke out the enemy. Cruising inlets and coves and canals, swift boats were especially vulnerable targets.

snip/

In any case, Kerry said he was appalled that the Navy's ''free fire zone'' policy put civilians at such high risk. So, on Jan. 22, 1969, Kerry and several dozen fellow skippers and officers traveled to Saigon to complain about the policy in an extraordinary meeting with Zumwalt and the overall commander of the war, General Creighton W. Abrams Jr. ''We were fighting the policy very, very hard, to the point that many of the members were refusing to carry out orders on some of their missions, to the point where crews were starting to mutiny, say, `I would not go back in the rivers again,''' Kerry recalled during a 1971 television appearance on the Dick Cavett Show.

But Kerry went back in the rivers. Indeed, it was after this meeting that he began his most deadly round of combat. Within days of the Saigon meeting, he joined a five-man crew on swift boat No. 94 on a series of missions in which he won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and two of his three Purple Hearts. Starting in late January 1969, this crew completed 18 missions over an intense and dangerous 48 days, almost all of them in the dense jungles of the Mekong Delta.

snip/

A couple of weeks later, on March 13, 1969, a mine detonated near Kerry's boat, wounding Kerry in the right arm, according to the citation written by Zumwalt. Guerrillas started firing on the boats from the shoreline. Kerry then realized that he had lost overboard a Green Beret who is identified only as "Rassman."

"The man was receiving sniper fire from both banks," according to Kerry's Bronze Star citation from that day. "Lt. Kerry directed his gunners to provide suppressing fire, while from an exposed position on the bow, his arm bleeding and in pain, with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the man aboard. Lt. Kerry then directed his boat to return and assist the other damaged craft and towed the boat to safety. Lt. Kerry's calmness, professionalism and great personal courage under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the US Naval Service," Zumwalt's citation said.


More at http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061603.shtml

Kerry supporters, feel free to start a thread about Kerry rescuing Jim Rassman. War is ugly, but Kerry emerged anti-war. And as the rally shows today, he is a hero.

[bluestateguy]

1. But he doesn't support President Bush!

So he must hate America! He has no courage and no patriotism because he doesn't support President Bush's agenda!

:eyes:

[Maddy McCall]

2. Sadly, that is the argument some would use...

:eyes:

[sandnsea]

14. Rassmen, retired Republican cop

Political junkie. Followed Kerry since 1984. Says he's thinks as a cop he's got pretty good judgment on when he's being lied to. John Kerry says what he thinks is right and tells the truth. So Rassmen is now a Kerry campaigner and a Kerry voter.

With men like this, we'll stop that right wing patriotism bullshit in its tracks.

[Maddy McCall]

15. Another swing voter. That's great!!

Military experience--Kerry and Clark--will bring out swing voters. The wild thing about this is that, politically they are both rather liberal, but people will vote for them because of their experience in the military.

Can you see the future? Wow!

[wtmusic]

3. Kerry emerged anti-war?

Is he for/against the war in Iraq? He still has not taken a position.

[Maddy McCall]

4. Yes, anti-VIET NAM war...

Then, at the beginning of April 1969, Kerry left Vietnam. "I thought it was time to tell the story of what was happening over there," Kerry said. "I was angry about what happened over there, I had clearly concluded how wrong it was."

By this point, five of Kerry's closest friends had died in combat, including Yale classmate Richard Pershing. Then, just days after Kerry left, another friend, Donald Droz -- a fellow skipper who had provided support for Kerry on the day he won the Silver Star -- died in a fiery ambush. Droz had an infant daughter.

Did you read the article?

[wtmusic]

5. Yes, I did

do you know his position on the Iraq War?

[Maddy McCall]

7. Why don't you take your comments to one of the many threads on

the war in Iraq.

Did you not notice that this thread is discussing Kerry in Viet Nam? Or are you just here to disrupt discussion of Kerry in Viet Nam?

What does that little sleeping guy button under your post do? Oh, I see. Great DU feature!!

[sandnsea]

10. Loyalty, respect, commitment

Some people just don't get it at all. And yes, I think I'm going to have to use that little button some more myself. Nice reminder.

[wtmusic]

13. You stated in your post that Kerry was anti-war

and I am responding to that statement. That's all.

[sangha]

20. No, he said Kerry was "anti VietNam war"

not anti-war. You are responding to a statement jchild never made. That's all

[WiseMen]

18. I think he has opposed the war repeatedly before Dean did.

[IndianaGreen]

6. We are not voting for the John Kerry that opposed the Vietnam War

We are being asked to vote for the John Kerry that forgot what got us into the Vietnam War!

[Maddy McCall]

9. Do you think Bush lied? Are you one of the many people here who believes

that Bush lied to the American public, the Senate, and the Congress about Iraq?

I think that has been well proven.

[sandnsea]

8. I just saw it on C-Span

Amazing. John Rassman calls up Kerry headquarters yesterday and says he wants to help. He's a retired Republican cop from Oregon. As an Oregonian, I can look at the guy and pretty much tell you he's from rural Oregon, as right wing as anywhere in the country. They haven't seen each other since 1969. But he respects John Kerry so much, he flies across the country to help. THAT is how we're going to win the south, THAT is how we're going to kick George Bush out of the White House!

It is Jim, not John. Goofy me.

[maddezmom]

11. it is a great story :)

[Maddy McCall]

12. Thanks for more background info, sandnsea.

I am a Clark supporter, but I think that Kerry is a great guy and would be honored to cast my vote for him in November.

If it comes down to a battle between Kerry and Clark, we can't lose.

[Raya]

16. Noble that Kerry Did not Ask Him. He, a repub voluteered to help Kerry

get elected president.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. Wow. He volunteered to help Kerry on his own. Awesome.

Truly awesome.

[sandnsea]

17. Seven Letters - Vietnam

"Seven letters-that's all it takes to make the word Vietnam. More than the name of a country. It is a period in time-it is a one word encapsulation of history-a one-word summary of a war gone wrong even as young Americans in uniform sought to do what was right, of families divided yet in a deeper sense united by its ideals. Vietnam, it carries in its seven letters all the confusion, bitterness, love, sacrifice and nobility of America's longest war. It is a one-word, all-encompassing answer to questions: What happened to him? Where was he injured? When did he change? Say the word to a veteran and he or she can smell the wood burning fires, hear the AK-47s and B-52s, see the pajama-clad Viet Cong and the helicopters darting across the sky-you can feel all the emotions of young men and women who in the end were fighting as much for their love of each other as for the love of country that brought them there in the first place." John Kerry

I don't know where this came from exactly, somebody posted it elsewhere.