The Sampan Incident
E P I L O G U E
ADVANTAGE SWIFT VETS
As described in Unfit for Command, PCF-44, under the command of John Kerry, was involved in an incident where a child and a father aboard a sampan were killed when the crew opened fire, thinking that Viet Cong were aboard the sampan. We further discussed an after-action report first discovered by reporters for the Boston Globe when writing their biography of John Kerry. 15 This after-action report is material because it appears to be a fraudulent report, one written to cover the sampan incident by changing it to reflect not the killing of a father and child, but the capturing of the mother and a second child, the killing of one Viet Cong (supposedly the father), and four additional occupants who either escaped or were killed in action. Based on eyewitness accounts, Unfit for Command charges that the after-action report was a fraud written to transform a tragedy into a heroic victory, the only casualty being the truth of what actually happened.
The after-action report, obtained from the Naval Archives at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., is printed in the appendix. The report describes that PCF-44 was under fire, something even John Kerry’s own account of the incident never contended in Tour of Duty. 16 The report lists one woman and one child as “CIA” or “captured in action,” not “miraculously saved” as was the case. Further, the report clearly lists an estimate that four of the enemy were KIA, “killed in action,” and one enemy believed killed in action, the father of the family on the small fishing boat.
Kerry’s campaign has never responded to multiple requests to address this after-action report and resolve the discrepancy pointed out in Unfit for Command. Given the Kerry camp’s lack of response, the conclusion on the sampan incident controversy is again clear: Advantage, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS FOR KERRY
1. Did you prepare and submit to the Navy a report saying that there were five Viet Cong probably killed on the boat, omitting the child and describing the mother and baby as captured in action?
2. Why is there a discrepancy among the eyewitness accounts, the after-action report, and the account written by the Boston Globe reporters?
cont'd..........
AI
