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Campaign 2004
Deeply Angry Vietnam Vets Buy Ads to Expose Kerry's Record
Posted Aug. 5, 2004
Former Vietnam comrades of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts were launching a three-state, 60-second television ad Thursday questioning his character and fitness to be president based on their personal knowledge of his military performance. The ad, titled "Any Questions," will run in West Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin, key battleground states in the November election.
"We're following him around," said Larry Thurlow, a swift-boat commander who served in the same unit with Kerry in 1969 and is a member of the organization called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
The organization's chairman, retired Adm. Roy Hoffmann, said he became involved in opposing Kerry's candidacy because he doubts the Massachusetts senator's veracity and character.
"The main reason that I got so concerned about this is that I just don't feel (Kerry) has the character to be the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of the United States," he said in an interview with United Press International. "We're talking about judgment, we're talking about truthfulness, reliability, loyalty, and above all, trust," Hoffmann said. "And in my experience with (Kerry), he didn't measure up to that."
The television ad is based on testimonials from several sailors who served in Vietnam at the same time Kerry did and were familiar with his record there.
Van O'Dell, who served in the same unit in An Toi, says in the ad, "John Kerry lied to get his Bronze Star ... I know, I was there, I saw what happened."
Lewis Letson says, "I know John Kerry is lying about his first Purple Heart because I treated him for that injury."
Grant Hibbard, who was Kerry's commanding officer for the first part of Kerry's Vietnam tour, says in the ad of Kerry's anti-war advocacy, "He betrayed all his shipmates. ... He lied before the Senate."
Hibbard said as Kerry's commanding officer early during Kerry's tour, he turned down Kerry request for his first Purple Heart. The wound, he said, was very minor and did not warrant it, but somehow Kerry got it anyway sometime after Hibbard left for the United States.
Kerry served four months and 12 days of a 12-month tour in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. He received three Purple Hearts and two awards for bravery during that period and then returned home through a Navy regulation that allowed cutting short a tour of Vietnam duty for those with three Purple Hearts. No other Swift-boat commander took advantage of this loophole, and officers serving at the time say they encouraged him to do so because his posturing was putting others in danger, according to swiftvet.com.
Upon his return to the United States, Kerry became a prominent anti-war activist and testified before a Senate committee, repeating allegations of widespread American atrocities. Many veterans disputed the allegations -- garnered from an anti-war panel of former veterans, both real and imposter -- as unverified or false.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a 527 advocacy group, is made up entirely of Vietnam veterans who served on the same kind of boats Kerry did. It is funded by contributions. Internet magazine Salon.com reported that the group's largest contributor is Houston developer and Republican activist Bob Perry, who gave the group $100,000 on June 30. That donation provided almost two-thirds of the group's funding up to that point. No other single donor had given more than $25,000.
The group does not receive donations directly from the Republican Party.
The 60-second ad cost less than $50,000 to produce and was funded entirely with money raised by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group is working to raise money to extend that ad to other states and keep it running as long as possible. The group first announced its existence in May and has quietly been building support and collecting documentation to support their claims that Kerry's recollections of his Vietnam service and exploits were wrong.
Thurlow, who was present in the last action Kerry took part in Vietnam, vehemently disputes the account of Kerry rescuing a Special Forces soldier and winning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in the process. So does Van Odell, Thurlow's machine-gunner at the time.
Kerry has come under attack by veterans groups over his anti-war activities following service in Vietnam. Among those not voting for him are several prisoners of war, who told UPI Kerry's anti-war statements and actions were used by their North Vietnamese captors to try to sap their morale.
Some of the attacks, including some based on work by a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth-sponsored private detective, have drawn criticism from veterans who support Kerry and who have called them invasive and partisan.
UPI is a sister news organization of Insight.