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August 17, 2004
Kerry's other Vietnam Problem
Over the past few days a new story about John Kerry and his time in Vietnam has come out:
John Kerry and David Alston
Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters blog broke the story
Kerry's campaign keeps pointing to the men who sailed with Kerry on PCF-44 and PCF-94. One of them, David Alston, spoke at the Democratic convention in support of Kerry and remarked constantly about their service together.But did Alston, who suffered real and serious wounds from battle, ever actually serve on Kerry's boat as he and Kerry claim?
The captain's research called this claim into question.
For years now we have been lead to believe that both Sen. Kerry and the Rev. David Alston had served together on the PCF-94 in Vietnam, and therefore, making David Alston an eyewitness to Kerry's actions and heroism. The fact that Sen. Kerry has used a now famous photo of himself together with David Alston and other crewmates while serving on swift boats in Vietnam, left little reason to believe otherwise. As with most anything having to do with Sen. Kerry -- nothing is ever as it first appears to be.
Alston was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention in which he repeated his claim that he served with John Kerry on his swift boat in Vietnam.
Captain Ed provides evidence that David Alston never served with John Kerry. The essence of the discrepancy with Alston's story is a "timeline problem". Tom "River Rat" Mortensen did some research and reported to Capain Ed that:
Kerry was on PCF-44 until at least until 21 January 69. He was in Saigon with Zumwalt on 22 Jan 69 (see below). Alston and Peck were wounded on 29 January 69. Below you will see they claim Alston was on the PCF-94 from “late January to mid-march” . This is impossible as Alston was wounded and hospitalized. There is no mention of Fred Short who received a medal, NCM w/c V, for the “Silver Star” action on 28 Feb 69.I’m beginning to think the photo of Kerry with Alston was taken between 23 Jan and 29 Jan. For what reason, I don’t know. It may have been that Kerry was in a “crew familiarization” period with the guys on PCF-94 before the action that wounded and hospitalized Peck and Alston. What it says is Alston never served under Kerry’s command as he was wounded and hospitalized on the 29th. There is no record of Kerry being aboard PCF-94 on 29 Jan.
Here's why: David Alston received career-ending wounds in a January1969 mission on swiftboat PCF-94, which at the time was commanded by Del Sandusky. His wounds were so serious "that he was medevaced out to a hospital with head wounds and no records indicate that he ever returned to the unit." Fred Short replaced Alston on the boat Kerry, however, did not take command until January 30, 1969.
Indeed, in a picture of John Kerry and his swiftboat crew, taken on March 6, 1969, David Alston is nowhere to be seen. While it is possible he simply missed being in this photo, that is questionable because the photo shows a full compliment for a swiftboat of one officer and five crew. Further, the photo was taken after a ceremony in which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star. You would think that he would be present for this type of event.
But maybe they did serve together
Byron York of National Review checked into this story and his conclusion is that Alston did serve with Kerry, though only for a week or two. Further, they were only in combat together for two days. York interviewed Fred Short, Alston's replacement as gunner on PCF-94. and found him to be a credible witness:
In light of the timeline and interviews with the participants, it seems likely that Alston's time with Kerry was at most two weeks, and, if Short's recollection is correct, as little as one week. Given that, it is possible that some of Alston's public statements might have left audiences with the impression that he and Kerry were together for a longer period of time.
Given the timeline of events, it is understandable how Captain Ed reached his conclusion.
In addition, Alston has on at least one occasion seemed to give the impression that he was present for Kerry's Silver Star-winning actions on February 28
Further,
Kerry has sometimes left the impression that he was present when Alston was wounded.
However, York says, Alston was not present during that battle. At best, Kerry has been caught exaggerating his war experience. At worst the two of them have misrepresented their time together.
Captain Ed's Response
The captain seems to agree with York that maybe Kerry and Alston did serve together, even if for a short period of time. He does cite evidence, however, that casts doubt on Short as a credible witness.
Short gave an interview on April 29, 2003, in support of John Kerry in the early days of the campaign. In that interview, Short wildly exaggerated the ambush that Kerry fought through on 13 March.
Hoist by his own Petard
John Kerry has so far refused to release his full service records. This while using that record as the primary reason why voters should choose him in November. If Kerry's version of events is true, he could put an end to stories questioning his actions in Vietnam if he released those records. Why won't he?
The issues of whether David Alston served with John Kerry is still in doubt, in my opinion. Alston may be telling the truth. But this is one more discrepancy that John Kerry needs to clear up. If he had simply used his Vietnam service as one more "bullet point" on his resume, I'd say that we shouldn't pursue these stories. But he has made it central to his campaign. No doubt Kerry partisans will go on the attack and say that those who pursue these stories are "questioning his patriotism" or some such tripe. But Kerry cannot at once use his service as a central reason why voters should choose him as president, and then attack those who investigate that record.
Thank you to Mark from Colorado for alerting me to this breaking story.
Update 8/18
Some bloggers dispute Byron York's version of events here. I don't have time to go through the whole thing now, but their conlusion is that "The evidence still shows David Alston never served under Sen. Kerry and that David Alston and the rest of Kerry's "Band of Brothers" still refuse to tell the truth."
Posted by Tom at August 17, 2004 12:25 PM
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