Text 1621, 97 rader
Skriven 2004-08-22 05:41:38 av FRED NOON (1:275/311)
Ärende: Navy Officer Backs Kerry
================================

Anti-Kerry Vets Not There That Day

By William B. Rood
Chicago Tribune

There were three swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than
35 years ago -- three officers and 15 crew members.  Only two of those
officers remain to talk about what happened on February 28, 1969.

One is John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate who won a
Silver Star for what happened on that date.  I am the other.

For years, no one asked about those events.  But now they are the focus
of skirmishing in a presidential election with a group of swift boat
veterans and others contending that Kerry didn't deserve the Silver Star
for what he did on that day, or the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts
he was awarded for other actions.

Many of us wanted to put it all behind us -- the rivers, the ambushes,
the killing.  Ever since that time, I have refused all requests for
interviews about Kerry's service -- even those from reporters at the
Chicago Tribune, where I work.

But Kerry's critics, armed with stories I know to be untrue, have
charged that the accounts of what happened were overblown.  The critics
have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit
of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubt on
all of us.  It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there
to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come
from people who were not there.

Even though Kerry's own crew members have backed him, the attacks have
continued, and in recent days Kerry has called me and others who were
with him in those days, asking that we go public with our accounts.

I can't pretend those calls had no effect on me, but that is not why I
am writing this.  What matters most to me is that this is hurting
crewmen who are not public figures and who deserved to be honored for
what they did.  My intent is to tell the story here and to never again
talk publicly about it.

I was part of the operation that led to Kerry's Silver Star.  I have no
firsthand knowledge of the events that resulted in his winning the
Purple Hearts or the Bronze Star.

But on Feb. 28, 1969, I was officer in charge of PCF-23, one of three
swift boats -- including Kerry's PCF-94 and Lt. j.g. Donald Droz's
PCF-43 -- that carried Vietnamese regional and Popular Force troops and
a Navy demolition team up the Dong Cung, a narrow tributary of the Bay
Hap River, to conduct a sweep in the area.

The approach of the noisy 50-foot aluminum boats, each driven by two
huge 12-cylinder diesels and loaded down with six crew members, troops
and gear, was no secret.

Ambushes were a virtual certainty, and that day was no exception.

The difference was that Kerry, who had tactical command of that
particular operation, had talked to Droz and me beforehand about not
responding the way the boats usually did to an ambush.

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.

Meanwhile, Kerry ordered our boat to head upstream with his, leaving
Droz's boat at the first site.

It happened again, another ambush.  And again, Kerry ordered the turn
maneuver, and again it worked.  As we headed for the riverbank, I
remember seeing a loaded B-40 launcher pointed at the boats.  It wasn't
fired as two men jumped up from their spider holes.

We called Droz's boat up to assist us, and Kerry, followed by one member
of his crew, jumped ashore and chased a VC behind a hooch -- a thatched
hut -- maybe 15 yards inland from the ambush site.  


Continued ---
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5a
 * Origin: FidoTel & QWK on the Web! www.fidotel.com (1:275/311)