On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 02:01:01 +0100, LRod
wrote:

On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:15:51 -0700, Mark & Juanita
wrote:


There were three Swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than
35 years ago — three officers and 15 crew members. Only two of those
officers remain to talk about what happened on Feb. 28, 1969.

One is John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate who won a
Silver Star for what happened on that date. I am the other.


Well, that should certainly silence any critics, two absolutely
impeccable witnesses remain, one a politician, the other a reporter. I'm
convinced.

You should be. They were there. You and all the other critics weren't.

So now no further criticism should be leveled since, after all, the
records are going to be rife with error, and only the memories of those who
were there is really all we have to go by. ... and since they are
"strained" memories, who knows who is right or wrong?

My question is, why would someone who wasn't there question it? Can
they offer alternative evidence? No.

I can just see this conversation about 50 years ago when I was old
enough to ask my dad what he did in the war.

LRod: What did you do in the war, dad?

Dad: I flew on 35 missions in B-17s over Europe.

LRod: Yeah, right. Did you get any medals?

Dad: Air Medal with 7 oak leaf clusters, and some others.

LRod: I'll bet. You probably got a couple of those when you were up
slow-timing some engines.

Some fathers would have leveled the child at that point. Mine would
have just looked at me like I was an idiot, thought to himself, "well,
son, I was there; you weren't," and walked away.

I'm looking at you now, I know you weren't there. Good bye.


Never said I was there; the other 250 swift boat vets who served with
Kerry have said they were there, numerous eyewitnesses to the various
events being recounted. You weren't there either, how do you know who saw
what, other than the fact that the one (1) reporter who is saying what you
want to hear while the other 250 witnesses, many of them decorated veterans
themselves, aren't saying what you want to hear?

Your analogy not only limps, it was DOA -- I have never claimed to be an
eyewitness to those events. For your analogy to even be close, you should
replace your LROD comment of " I'll bet. You probably got a couple of
those when you were up slow-timing some engines." with "But 15 of your
fellow crewmembers said you really got that medal when you were up
slow-timing some engines." At least that would be halfway close to the
situation being discussed.