Canales News Briefs

August 21, 2004

"...Another critic, Larry Thurlow, a fellow Swift boat

commander in the Mekong Delta in 1969, disputed

Kerry's claim that his boat and others in the

five-boat patrol came under enemy fire during a

March 13, 1969, mission that earned Kerry the

Bronze Star.

Thurlow said that although one of the Swift boats

was disabled by a mine explosion, there was no

enemy fire from shore, as Kerry and others

testified, and that Kerry's account was ' a total

fabrication.' Thurlow said in an affidavit: ' I never

heard a shot. '

However, a citation for the Bronze Star with valor

awarded to Thurlow for that mission stated his

actions ' took place under constant enemy small

arms fire which (Thurlow) completely ignored '

while he provided assistance to the damaged

Swift boat and the wounded aboard.

Thurlow said he lost his medal citation for that

incident over two decades ago and stood by his

account that there was no enemy fire at the time.

His account was further called into question by a

battle damage assessment report on another

Swift boat, PCF-51, involved in the March 13

action. The report listed three .30 caliber bullet

holes in the superstructure of the 50-foot patrol

boat.

The Swift boat veterans also have cast doubt on

Kerry's account that a second mine explosion

damaged his boat, PCF-94, and blew an Army

Special Forces officer, Jim Rassmann, overboard.

Kerry's Bronze Star was awarded for his rescue of

Rassmann, who credited Kerry with saving his

life.

Among the records was a battle damage report

filed the following day, March 14, which stated

that PCF-94 had three windows blown out, radios

and radar inoperable, the boat's auxiliary

generator inoperable, screws curled and chipped,

aft helm steerage control not working. The boat

was judged incapable of executing patrols without

repairs..."

- Excerpt from an article by Joseph

L. Galloway, of the Knight Ridder

Newspaper Group and posted at

theState.com on 8-20-2004, which

appears to promote the Kerry

"riposte" to the Swift Boat Veterans

For Truth ads on Kerry's suitability as

a Commander-in-Chief.

"...Larry Thurlow, an experienced, genuine hero and

PCF veteran, commanded the boat behind Kerry

on March 13, 1969. Thurlow was on the shore with

Kerry and a group of Nung soldiers (mercenaries

working with the South Vietnamese) that morning

of March 13, 1969. Thurlow recalls that Kerry had

that morning wounded himself in the buttocks with

a grenade that he set off too close to a stock of

rice he was trying to destroy. The incident is all

too reminiscent of the M-79 grenade Kerry exploded

too close to some rocks on shore, causing the

wound at Cam Ranh Bay that resulted in his first

Purple Heart. As the Boston Globe biographers

note:

At one point, Kerry and Rassman threw grenades

into a huge rice cache that had been captured

from the Vietcong and was thus slated for

destruction. After tossing the grenades, the

two dove for cover. Rassmann escaped the

ensuing explosion of rice, but Kerry was not as

lucky--thousands of grains stuck to him. The

result was hilarious, and the two men formed a

bond. 13

Very probably, the incident Rassmann describes

that resulted in Kerry's self-inflicted wound is the

very wound that Kerry used to claim his final Purple

Heart. Indeed, Kerry's report for that day mentions

the rice he destroyed. He dishonestly transferred

the time and cause of the injury to coincide with the

PCF action later in the day and claimed that the

cause of the injury was the mine exploding during

the action...

Unfortunately for Kerry, he ended up telling the

truth by mistake. On page 313 of " Tour of Duty "

and evidently in his secret journal written on or

about March 13, 1969, which is quoted in the book,

Kerry relates his injury from the rice stock

explosion, although he tries to place the time

and context of the incident later in the day and

tries to claim that it resulted from friendly forces

(the Nungs) but at a time in which there was no

hostile fire:

The Nung blew up some huge bins of rice they

had found, as it was assumed, as always, that

these were the local stockpiles earmarked to

feed the hungry VC moving through the Delta

smuggling weapons. ' I got a piece of small

grenade in my ass from one of the rice-bin

explosions and then we started to move back

to the boats, firing to our rear as we went. ' 14

Unless one believes in the amazing coincidence

that Kerry got two wounds in the same place on the

same day and from the same type of incident, then

Kerry's wound of March 13, 1969, was not the result

of hostile fire at all but, once again, simply a self-

inflicted minor wound about which he lied to get a

Purple Heart......

In reality, Kerry's boat was on the right side of the

river when a mine went off on the opposite side, under

PCF 3. The boat's crewmen were thrown into the

water. The officers of PCF 3 were injured by the

explosion and suffered concussions. A Viet Cong

sympathizer in an adjoining bunker had touched off

the mine. Besides the mine exploding under PCF 3,

there was no other hostile fire and there were no other

mines, according to Chenowith, Odell, Pease, and

Thurlow. The boats had begun firing after the mine

exploded, but they ceased after a short time because

of the lack of hostile fire.

Despite the absence of hostile fire, Kerry fled the

scene. The remaining PCFs, in accord with standard

doctrine, stood to defend the disabled PCF 3 and its

crewmen in the water. Kerry disappeared several

hundred yards away, returning only when it was clear

that there was no return fire.

Chenowith (who received no medal) picked up PCF

3 crewmen thrown into the water. As a result of the

explosion, PCF 3's engines were knocked out on one

side and frozen on 500 RPM on the other side. The

boat weaved dangerously, hitting sandbars, with a

dazed or unconscious crew aboard. Thurlow sought a

secure hold on his boat so he could jump across and

board PCF 3. However, he was thrown into the water

as his first attempt to board PCF 3 failed and the boat

hit the sandbars. Later, Thurlow brought PCF 3 to a

stop, and the boat slowly began to sink.

During the incident, Jim Rassmann had fallen or

had been knocked off either Kerry's boat or PCF 35.

When he was spotted in the water, Chenowith's boat,

with the PCF 3 crew aboard, went to pick him up.

Kerry's boat, returning to the scene after its flight,

reached him about twenty yards before Chenowith.

Kerry did the decent thing by going a short distance

to pick up Rassmann, justifiably earning Rassmann's

gratitude. The claim that Kerry ' returned ' to a hostile

fire zone is a lie according to Chenowith, Thurlow, and

many others. Meanwhile, the serious work of saving

PCF 3 continued.

Kerry's false after-action report, prepared to justify

his medals, reports ' 5,000 meters ' --- about two and

a half miles--- of heavy fire, about the same distance

as a large Civil War battlefield. Not a shot of this fire

was heard by Chenowith, Thurlow, Odell, or Pease.

Kerry's false after-action report ignores Chenowith's

heroic action in rescuing the PCF 3 survivors and

Thurlow's action saving PCF 3, while highlighting his

own routine pickup of Rassmann and PCF 94's minor

role in saving PCF 3.

When Chenowith's boat left a second time to deliver

the wounded PCF 3 crewmen to a Coast Guard

cutter offshore, Kerry jumped into the boat, leaving

the few remaining officers and men the job of saving

PCF 3, which was then in terrible condition, sinking

just outside of the river. Kerry's eagerness to secure

his third and final Purple Heart evidently outweighed

any feelings he may have had of loyalty, duty, or honor

with regard to his fellow sailors. Thurlow and the brave

sailors who saved PCF 3 and towed it out did not seek

Purple Hearts for their ' minor contusions ' . Indeed,

several of the PCF 3 sailors did not seek or receive

Purple Hearts. Chenowith, Odell, and their boatmates

who fished out and saved the sailors of PCF 3 likewise

had no thought of seeking medals but only of

rescuing their comrades and saving PCF 3. Kerry,

however, portrays himself towing the disabled PCF 3

to safety after saving it. Another lie: The damage

control on PCF 3 was done by Thurlow. While Kerry's

boat, PCF 94, participated in towing PCF 3, Kerry was

no longer on it for most of the trip (he was safely on

the Coast Guard cutter), and Thurlow and Chenowith

are certain that Kerry played no role in saving PCF 3

or its crew........"

- Relevant excerpts from the book

"Unfit For Command- Swift Boat

Veterans Speak Out Against John

Kerry", by John O'Neill and Jerome

Corsi, related to the so-called

March 13, 1969 incident.

To All,

One can only wonder as to some of the "Rashomon"-like aspects of Kerry's naval career:

Questions, Questions:

The ongoing "vetting" of John Kerry's Viet Nam experiences continued yesterday, where in a fit of nostalgia for the old days of Mainstream Media Mendacity it seems that a Brah-maniacal Bostonian wants to Ban Another Book (Unfortunately for the Beantown Bomber, Kerry has no pull with the folks at Regnery.).

The very latest Presidential campaign rhubarb revolves around the "chance" discovery by the Media that both Kerry's and Larry Thurlow's Bronze Star commendations mention that now famous phrase "...under enemy fire..." when describing the events of March 13, 1969 on the Bay Hap River.

Unfortunately for Kerry, more than just one of his future Swiftee critics was there in accompanying boats that day. As such, veterans and other interested voters are reduced to parsing the sum total of all of the statements released to see if some sense can be made of it all.

To begin with, one gets the impression that Kerry's ability to remember safety briefings concerning military weapons was a tad deficient. After all, what other reason could explain Kerry getting two Purple Hearts out of three for being too close to grenade explosions which are not apparently the result of enemy activities?

But in a more serious note, the discrepancies between the parties involved have no where been resolved by the relatively feeble attempts of the Mendacious Mainstream Media to "put the controversy to bed".

For example, if Kerry is to regain credibility it has to be established once and for all that Viet Cong irregulars opened fire along the entire 5,000 meter length of the Bay Hap River as described by Kerry's after-action report. Such a volume of fire, a veritable "Gauntlet" (as in the Clint Eastwood film of the same name), should have ended in that every U.S. participant in the Bay Hap River incident would have been turned into Swiss Cheese when they stayed behind to rescue the crew of PCF 3, suppressive fire notwithstanding. That they did not speaks volumes.

Yet, it is also odd that PCF 51 was the only boat reported (so far) to have small arms battle damage. This is especially since it seems that so few rounds (3, in this case) seemed to have hit such a diminutive target as a 50 foot long by 13.5 foot wide by 11.5 foot tall (from the water line) barn door of target. And of the copious battle damage to PCF 94 reported by Kerry through his Media Minions, little seems to indicate that small arms fire impacted the superstructure (though it is not clear how, if the windows were blown out, how the bridge crew was able to survive with such light wounds as described previously). Finally, since technically there were "two" actions that morning (the burning of the rice stocks and the later command detonated mine incident), it is still unclear as to when the small arms damage that has been revealed can be attributed definitively as to time and origin (M-60 machine guns used by the Swift Boat crews are of the 7.62 caliber, though with a more powerful cartridge, which may indicate that the bullet holes in PCF 51 may be of "friendly fire" origin).

Additional points to ponder, especially for all those boat owners out in Likely Voter Land, revolve around the hull damage to PCF 94 had a second underwater mine detonated as per Kerry's after-action report. It is hard to imagine the kind of damage from an underwater explosion that can "...curl the screws...", yet not spring the shaft seals that otherwise keep the engine room from being flooded (Is has not yet been revealed that PCF 94's engine compartment was subject to flooding as a result of the May 13, 1969 incident). Likewise it is difficult to imagine that if PCF 94 was as damaged as reported afterward, how it would have been able to tow out a sinking PCF 3 (Kerry's apparent after-action version, as cited by O'Neill and Corsi), or even just help tow out PCF 3 (O'Neill and Corsi's recollections).

On the other hand, curled/chipped screws and inoperative electronics aboard PCF 94 may be possibly associated with the kind of impact damage, as described again by O'Neill and Corsi, associated with grounding on beaches and sandbars. Thus it is unclear that this damage is indicative of a proximate mine explosion, absent additional conclusive evidence.

Additional problems for Kerry lie in the "...Shocked, Schocked that there is gambling..." line that the campaign is taking regarding the actions of 527 groups in general.

It takes an especially tender hide to be so sensitive to a measly $ 500,000 ad buy, as well as a single 216 page book, when one has George Soros, the Hollyweird Left, and Michael Moore dedicating veritable tens of millions of dollars in "Mad Money" to propagate the current spate of anti-Bush propaganda.

Even when one considers the combined counter effect of talk radio, the Blogosphere, Fox News, and a few newspapers, Kerry's "ownership" of the media outlets is still shielding him from the full effect of the Swiftee revelations. But indications are that the Swift Vet message is getting out, and Team Kerry's actions are now drawing even more attention to the controversy. Like with the Theresa Heinz documents issue, it can only be that Kerry wishes to play "keep away" from the voters as long as he can before trying a controlled release a la Clinton. Of course, that this tends to exacerbate the impact of the revelations should also be remembered as well.

Also of note is a recent CBS News poll showing a serious tightening of the race between Kerry and President Bush. CBS News polls have had a history in the past of being skewed towards the Left, sometimes as much as 10 points of margin. One can only imagine the kind of "weighting" that is going on to still show Kerry ahead by 1 point, despite the recent revelations.

But since the media is the true "consumer" of all public polling (after all, it is the media that pays for the polling), it should not surprise anyone that recent polls tend to show Kerry ahead. Given the disparities between voter registrations of Democrats and Republicans in California, New York, and Illinois, among others, the tendency of the pollsters to weight their "studies" towards a Donkey-Heavy sample is simply a kind of catering to a "customer" that leans towards the Democrat Party 9 to 1.

It should be evident to all that Kerry's unmentionable appendage is stuck in the old hand-operated grinding device over the Swift Vet revelations. And until primary source documents from the period are released to the public (after action reports, Navy forms, etc.), Kerry's protestations are likely to have a diminishing ability to counter the effect on the targeted voter groups involved (military voters, veterans, veteran's relatives and survivors of veterans). Since Campaign 2004 is of such close numbers, the strategic effect of moving such established voters is evident. Also, Team Bush still has yet to have their Convention Turn-At-Bat. If Bush gets a measurable bump, Kerry may be hard put to close the gap with any reduced set of "undecided" voters absent a serious downturn in the Third Quarter economy, or if a "leaker" of a terrorist attack get through. Given the putative Democrat advantages in registration, and the appearance of a lackadaisical energy level among some Democrat voter demographics, the feeling that this race is where the polls claim it to be is getting harder and harder to justify.

Story elements may be found at:

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/
special_packages/election2004/9455159.htm

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=4834

http://swiftboats.net/extras/boat_specifications.htm

http://www.ammoguide.com/

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040820/D84J88GG1.html

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/51405|
top|08-20-2004::19:30|reuters.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/19/
opinion/polls/main637123.shtml

Respectfully,

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA