(Please send me other relevant links to other stories for a SBV-Gate File, including stories on the Republication-SBV connection, recantations or qualifications by the SBV for Truth, general sites with good overviews, etc.)
Recent accounts (last 5 days) of Swift Boat Vets who were actually THERE! (What a concept):
1.) William Rood:
<Snip>
The commander of a Navy swift boat who served alongside Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry
during the Vietnam War stepped forward Saturday to dispute attacks challenging Kerry's integrity and war record.
William Rood, an editor on the Chicago Tribune's metropolitan desk, said he broke 35 years of silence about
the Feb. 28, 1969, mission that resulted in Kerry's receiving a Silver Star because recent portrayals of Kerry's
actions published in the best-selling book "Unfit for Command" are wrong and smear the reputations of veterans
who served with Kerry.
Rood, who commanded one of three swift boats during that 1969 mission, said Kerry came under rocket
and automatic weapons fire from Viet Cong forces and that Kerry devised an aggressive attack strategy that was
praised by their superiors. He called allegations that Kerry's accomplishments were "overblown" untrue.
. . .
Rood's recollection of what happened on that day at the southern tip of South Vietnam was backed by key
military documents, including his citation for a Bronze Star he earned in the battle and a glowing after-action
report written by the Navy captain who commanded his and Kerry's task force, who is now a critic of the
Democratic candidate.
<snip>
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/082204Y.shtml2.) Robert Lambert:
<snip>
Three Navy men won Bronze Stars for their actions that day: Kerry, Thurlow, and radarman first
class Robert Eugene Lambert, a petty officer in the boat captained by Thurlow. The citation for
Lambert's Bronze Star--previously undisclosed but obtained today under the Freedom of
Information Act from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis--repeats the description
of the incident included in the citation for Thurlow's Bronze Star: "all units came under small arms
and automatic weapons fire from the river banks."
. . .
The difference was that Kerry, who had tactical command of that particular operation, had talked to Droz and
me beforehand about not responding the way the boats usually did to an ambush. We agreed that if we were not
crippled by the initial volley and had a clear fix on the location of the ambush, we would turn directly into it,
focusing the boats' twin .50-caliber machine guns on the attackers and beaching the boats. We told our crews
about the plan.
. . .
The first time we took fire--the usual rockets and automatic weapons--Kerry ordered a "turn 90" and the three
boats roared in on the ambush. It worked. We routed the ambush, killing three of the attackers. The troops, led
by an Army adviser, jumped off the boats and began a sweep, which killed another half dozen VC, wounded or
captured others and found weapons, blast masks and other supplies used to stage ambushes.
. . .
We called Droz's boat up to assist us, and Kerry, followed by one member of his crew, site. Some who were
there that day recall the man being wounded as he ran. Neither I nor Jerry Leeds, our boat's leading petty officer
with whom I've checked my recollection of all these events, recalls that, which is no surprise.
<snip>
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=16923.) Pat Runyon
<snip>
Trotwood, Ohio - An Ohio factory worker who was with John Kerry on a dangerous night mission 36 years
ago in Vietnam said he has no doubt Kerry was grazed in a firefight and deserves his first Purple Heart for a
combat injury.
. . .
Runyon said Kerry was wounded after one vessel (sanpan) tried to avoid an inspection.
"Lt. Kerry said, 'I'm going to pop a flare, and when I do, I want that engine started,' " Runyon said. But the
outboard would not crank. Meanwhile, the sampan's crew steered it to the riverbank, and people started running
on the shore. Runyon said shooting broke out.
Somehow, Kerry's weapon stopped firing. Runyon thinks he ran out of ammunition. He said Kerry bent down to
pick up another gun and got hit in the arm.
"It wasn't a serious wound," Runyon said, and Kerry was able to start shooting again. When the firefight was
over, Runyon said Kerry told him all he felt was a "burning sensation."
<snip>
http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/isele/109265584379530.xml?isele 4.) Jim Russell:
<snip>
Three things that are forever pictured in my mind since that day over 30 yearsago are: (1) The No. 3, 50-foot long, Swift boat getting huge, huge air; JohnKerry thought it was about two feet. (He was farther away from it than I). I think it was at least four feet and probably closer to six feet; (2) All the boats turning left and letting loose at the same time like a deadly, choreographed dance and; (3) A few minutes later, John Kerry bending over his boat picking up one of the rangers that we were ferrying from out of the water. All the time we were taking small arms fire from the beach; although because of our fusillade into the jungle, I don't think it was very accurate, thank God. Anyone who doesn't think that we were being fired upon must have been on a different river.
<snip>
http://www.telluridegateway.com/articles/2004/08/20/news/opinion/opinion01.txt5.)Wayne D. Langhofer:
<snip>
Wayne D. Langhofer, now an employee at a Kansas gunpowder plant, told the Washington
Post in yesterday's editions, "There was a lot of firing going on, and it came from both sides
of the river."
Reflecting on the battle in the Bay Hap River, which resulted both in Kerry being awarded the
Bronze Star and receiving a third Purple Heart, which allowed him to end his combat tour
after just four months, Langhofer said he distinctly remembered the "clack, clack, clack" of
enemy AK-47s, as well as muzzle flashes from the surrounding riverbanks. Langhofer manned
a machine gun aboard PCF-43, the boat that was directly behind Kerry's.
<snip>
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/23/swift_boat_veteran_backs_kerry_on_details_of_1969_ambush/ 
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