Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Chris McConnel]

From the SBV site


2. KERRY'S BRONZE STAR

2.1 Enemy fire or not?

[via Kevin Drum, Political Animal ]
[NOW]

Larry Thurlow, today: "...there was no hostile enemy fire directed at my boat or at any of the five boats operating on the river that day."

Van O'Dell, today : "There was no enemy fire from either bank."

[THEN]

Larry Thurlow's [OWN] Bronze Star citation, 1969 - which he accepted without so much as a grunt back then: "...all units began receiving enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks."


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2.2 Enemy fire required for purple heart or not?

[NOW]

Larry Thurlow - on his own Bronze Star : "..."It's like a Hollywood presentation here, which wasn't the case," Thurlow said last night after being read the full text of his Bronze Star citation. "My personal feeling was always that I got the award for coming to the rescue of the boat that was mined. This casts doubt on anybody's awards. It is sickening and disgusting." Thurlow said he would consider his award "fraudulent" if coming under enemy fire was the basis for it. "I am here to state that we weren't under fire," he said."

[THEN]

George Elliott in 1969, on Thurlow's Bronze Star : "All of these actions by LTJG THURLOW took place under constant enemy small arms fire which LTJG Thurlow completely ignored in providing immediate assistance to the boat and crew."

eRiposte note:

Thurlow claims he thought his Bronze Star was for a rescue he attempted even though there was no enemy fire - and felt he deserved it (until this "recent revelation" of enemy fire) . He is critical, at the same time of Kerry having received a Bronze Star for a rescue Kerry did in the supposed absence of enemy fire! So, what is it Mr. Thurlow? Do you deserve a Bronze Star even if there was no enemy fire? Or do you not?
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2.3 Kerry wrote report or not?

[NOW]

Roy Hoffmann : "Adm. Roy Hoffmann, who commanded all Swift boats in Vietnam, said he believed that Kerry wrote the March 13 after-action report on the basis of numerical identifiers at the top of the form."

[THEN]

Roy Hoffmann, a little later : "He later acknowledged that the numbers referred to the Swift boat unit, and not to Kerry personally. "It's not cast-iron," he said. "


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2.4 Medal simply based on "Kerry's" report or not?

[NOW]

George Elliott : "I did not expect my officers [Kerry] to be submitting inaccurate reports"

[THEN]

George Elliott, a little earlier : "The group says Mr. Kerry himself wrote the reports that led to the medal. But Mr. Elliott and [Adrian] Lonsdale, who handled reports going up the line for recognition, have previously said that a medal would be awarded only if there was corroboration from others and that they had thoroughly corroborated the accounts."

http://swiftvets.eriposte.com/sbv_v_sbv.htm