Eyewitness account of Kerry's heroism in Nam

[seventhson]

The not-so-swift boat lkiars have claimed that Kerry was NOT under fire on March 13, 1969. A great article today in the Washington Post(which is not 100% favorable to Kerry but which has some great accounts which help him) has the following biut which should be learned by all of us to rebut the lies of the right wing goons whenever they arise:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21239-2004Aug21.html

"When the first explosion occurred, Rassmann was seated next to the pilothouse on the starboard, or right, side of Kerry's boat, munching a chocolate chip cookie that he recalls having "ripped off from someone's Care package." He saw the 3 boat lift out of the water. Almost simultaneously, Kerry's forward gunner, Tommy Belodeau, began screaming for a replacement for his machine gun, which had jammed. Rassmann grabbed an M-16 and worked his way sideways along the deck, which was only seven inches wide in places.

At this point, Kerry crew members say their boat was hit by a second explosion. Although Kerry's injury report speaks of a mine that "detonated close aboard PCF-94," helmsman Del Sandusky believes it was more likely a rocket or rocket-propelled grenade, as a mine would have inflicted more damage. Whatever it was, the explosion rammed Kerry into the wall of his pilothouse, injuring his right forearm.

The second explosion "blew me right off the boat," Rassmann recalled. Frightened that he might be struck by the propellers of one of the boats, he dived to the bottom of the river, where he dumped his weapons and rucksack. When he surfaced, he said, bullets were "snapping overhead," as well as hitting the water around him.

At first, nobody noticed what had happened to Rassmann. But then Medeiros, who was standing at the stern, saw him bobbing up and down in the water and shouted, "Man overboard." Around this time, crew members said, Kerry decided to go back to help the crippled 3 boat. It is unclear how far down the river Kerry's boat was when he turned around. It could have been anywhere from a few hundred yards to a mile.

[Catfight]

1. Kerry defended his honor once, in Nam, he no longer needs to, this

is purely a smear campaign to distract undecided voters from real issues. Let the lies come out, and that's enough.

[Zynx]

2. The Swiftliars are just spinning lies. Republicans don't know how to do

anything else.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Repukes are desperite

they don't have anything they can really defend-the economy is in the toilet, Iraq is getting worse every day, and it is becoming more and more obvious that we are being led by fools. So Shrub took the risk of bringing out the Sludge Boat Scumbags, knowing that his own less than stellar military career would be called into question.

[rfkrocks]

4. swiftsmear vets just part of the same Bush conspiracy

that did in McCain-just run that Kerry Internet Ad all over the place