Journal geoswan's Journal: John Kerry's Silver Star, Bronze Star 8
William Rood was the officer in charge of one of three Swift Boat's under John Kerry's overall command on the mission where Kerry was awarded his Silver Star. Here is a picture of Lt Kerry, and Lt Rood, and what looks like the rocket launcher in question.
Lt Rood described the tactics the Swift Boats had been following. The Swift Boats were noisy, and unarmored. So, the Swift Boats couldn't really sneak up on the VC. And, when fired upon, in a narrow river or canal, their speed and maneuverability was of limited usefulness. The tactic in use, when they triggered an ambush, was to speed up, and land a platoon of local troops a few hundred yards away, to hunt for the ambushers. This would give the ambushers every opportunity to slip away.
Lt Kerry had suggested a change in tactics to Lt Rood and Lt Droz.
We agreed that if we were not crippled by the initial volley and had a clear fix on the location of the ambush, we would turn directly into it, focusing the boats' twin
.50-caliber machine guns on the attackers and beaching the boats. We told our crews about the plan. The Viet Cong in the area had come to expect that the heavily loaded boats would lumber on past an ambush, firing at the entrenched attackers, beaching upstream and putting troops ashore to sweep back down on the ambush site. Often, they were long gone by the time the troops got there.
The first time we took fire--the usual rockets and automatic weapons--Kerry ordered a "turn 90" and the three boats roared in on the ambush. It worked. We routed the ambush, killing three of the attackers. The troops, led by an Army adviser, jumped off the boats and began a sweep, which killed another half dozen VC, wounded or captured others and found weapons, blast masks and other supplies used to stage ambushes.
Admiral Hoffman, the chairman of the steering committee for the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is currently describing Kerry as being impulsive. And, frankly, before I read Lt Rood's account, leaving his boat to attack ground troops sounded impulsive to me too. But I was wrong.
I was wrong. And Admiral Hoffman seems deceitful. He strongly praised Lt Kerry's new tactics at the time. And, after reading Lt Rood's account I can see that Lt Kerry deserved that praise.
Admiral Hoffman is fully entitled to hold and express the view that Lt Kerry's opposition to the War was a betrayal. I think Lt Kerry was fully entitled to oppose the War once he was no longer in the Navy.
Admiral Hoffman has expressed the view that Lt Kerry was dishonorable to repeat and summarize the confessions of other GIs at the "winter soldiers sessions". But I would ask Admiral Hoffman how honorable it is to reverse his own approval and commendation of Lt Kerry's performance as an officer then, in order to blacken his name now.
If the real issue is his opposition to the War in Vietnam, then base your arguments on that opposition.
We now know details from the citation for Lt Thurlow's Bronze Cross that are very damaging to his credibility. Lt Thurlow was insisting that there was no hostile fire at the ambush where he and Lt Kerry won their Bronze Crosses. But the citation for his own medal said that all the boats were under constant small arms fire. Bzzzt! You're busted Lt Thurlow! Lt Thurlow keeps insisting that there was no hostile fire. He says that Kerry must -- somehow -- of doctored the after action report.
But Lt Thurlow fails to explain how Lt Kerry could have "duked up" the after-action report, when it was Lt Thurlow himself, as the senior officer, who had the responsibility to write it.
If Lt Thurlow can not even remember that the recommendation for his own medal said they were under constant small arms fire how can the recollections he claims that Lt Kerry behaved dishonorably in battle have any credibility? I think Admiral Hoffmand and Lt Commander Elliott are busted too. The SBVFT keep questioning whether Lt Kerry really deserved his medals. Well, Admiral Hoffman and Lt Commander Elliott were his superior officers. Surely they must have signed off on the recommendation? Surely they had a responsibility, in 1969, to verify that the circumstances that Lt Kerry was being awarded for were correct? Isn't casting doubt on Lt Kerry's medals now dishonorable and dishonest?
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"Admiral Hoffman and Lt Commander Elliott were his superior officers. Surely they must have signed off on the recommendation?"
Yes. See Kerry's military records [johnkerry.com] for yourself. Here is an excerpt from bronze_star_recommendation.pdf (page 1):
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