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Letter in today's Evansville Courier from an Indiana vet who served
with John Kerry:
In Response:
Area resident served with Kerry, saw courageous, respectful officer
By ANTHONY E. SCHMITT Special to the Courier & Press
August 19, 2004
Shame on this newspaper for participating in the slanderous,
erroneous attack on Sen. John Kerry's military service by George W.
Bush and proponents, i.e., the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Web
site, by way of the letter from Charlotte Koewler, published on Aug.
10. Republican Sen. John McCain condemned this smear, and has
requested that the Bush Re-election Committee withdraw support from
the swift boat veterans' group. The 2000 Bush team used the same
tactic against McCain during the presidential primaries, in an
attempt to make people believe that there was little difference
between McCain's highly decorated service record and sacrifice
during the Vietnam War and the incomplete, uncorroborated service
record of George W. Bush.
If the public is looking for Kerry's official military service
record - including details of his numerous decorations, which
include the Bronze Star, the Silver Star (the Navy's second-highest
medal) and three Purple Hearts for being wounded on three different
occasions - they can use the same Internet search engine as Koewler
used to find her regurgitated trash. The swift boat Vietnam veterans
who voluntarily place themselves publicly at Kerry's side are
testimony to their dedication, and to his devotion to duty and
service.
I have never written to the Courier & Press before. Letters to the
editor at times amuse me, sometimes anger me, but always, I put the
newspaper down knowing that opinions can be freely expressed here.
This time, I am compelled to write because I feel I have something
to contribute.
My feelings about presidential candidate John Kerry are drawn from
my experiences and observations while serving in the U.S. Navy with
him aboard the USS Gridley from June 1967 to June 1968.
In June 1967, I was 18 years old and returning from my first West
Pac deployment. That tour, along with the subsequent one with Kerry
aboard, was spent on search-and-rescue duty, providing support to
carriers and assistance to downed aviators and aircraft in distress.
Young and green as grass, Ensign Kerry joined the Gridley soon after
we arrived in the ship's home port of Long Beach, Calif., just as I
was departing for leave in Indiana. Returning to the ship 10 days
later, I observed that Kerry had already made a favorable impression
on my enlisted crewmates in the ship's office. In the year I served
with Kerry aboard the USS Gridley, both in port and under way, and
in hostile waters off the coast of Vietnam (for which we received
combat pay), I observed this officer, always with a favorable
impression. My recollections of Kerry are those of a serious yet
friendly individual who, unlike many officers, did not look down
upon a lowly enlisted man such as myself. Kerry was unassuming and
respectful of everyone. In my duties both as a yeoman in the ship's
office, and tracking surface and air targets in the Combat
Information Center, I had many occasions to observe interactions
between Kerry and others. He was honest and straightforward, a
genuine person, unabsorbed in himself. I found Kerry to be quite
charismatic, and he participated in activities with enlisted men,
while other officers seldom did. He assumed a quiet junior officer
role in the company of his senior officers, but appeared to garner
great respect when he did speak. Kerry did not wear his religion on
his sleeve, but as I recall, while under way, he was the only
officer aboard who participated in the poorly attended
nondenominational church services.
In my mind, John Kerry's military service is unquestionably
honorable and beyond reproach. Many Vietnam veterans, myself
included, have wrestled with our county's role in that war, the
value of our individual service and the cost to our nation both in
lives and treasure. My own impressions of that long-ago conflict
continue to evolve, but I knew while in the service that our
policies were not working. I chose to leave the United States and
live in Australia after completing my military service. John Kerry
came back home and enlisted in the fight to stop the war and the
dying. At that time, he knew his involvement with a peace group was
not the politically correct thing, but he did became involved
anyway. Just as he could have stayed with the relatively safe white-
water navy, John Kerry chose to volunteer to make a difference in
the dangerous brown-water navy of the swift boats.
My observations of the man lead me to believe it was Kerry's sense
of duty to his country and empathy for those he left behind in
Vietnam that propelled him to join the Vietnam Veterans Against the
War. I don't know if that was the right thing to do at the time, or
even now. However, I do know that I have a sense of guilt for doing
nothing after my discharge from the military, while American
soldiers continued to die in a war that I knew was going nowhere. It
lasted another excruciatingly painful six years.
In my mind, John Kerry had another kind of courage after his
military discharge. He received no medals, only scorn, for
attempting to do something about a war he knew to be wrong. Those
who fought in that war have the right to judge him for that. After
the war, I know I did nothing to stop it, and for that I am not
proud.
These are difficult times that require a leader with unique courage
and the ability to bring the country, and the world, together for
our very survival. At this time in our nation's history, I believe
John Kerry possesses the very character, courage, and skills to do
just that.
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