http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/9/15/100709.shtml
Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2004 10:05 a.m. EDT
New Navy Document Challenges Kerry's Combat Valor
In the midst of a formal Navy investigation into whether Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam war decorations had been falsified, a new document has surfaced that casts doubt on his claim that he acted with valor in the action that earned him a Silver Star with Combat V.
Kerry won the Silver Star after claiming he single-handedly shot a Vietcong guerilla with a loaded rocket launcher while patrolling the Mekong Delta.
But the Navy after action report, obtained Tuesday by syndicated TV commentator Mark Hyman of "The Point," states that he merely chased down a lone, wounded enemy who was running away and shot him.
In 1996, Kerry Swiftboat mate Thomas Bellodeau challenged the top Democrat's account, revealing that he fired the first shot that hit the VC. Only then did Kerry hunt the wounded enemy down and finish him off behind a hut.
You know, I shot that guy," Bellodeau told the Boston Globe. "He jumped up, he looked right at me, I looked at him. You could tell he was trying to decide whether to shoot or not. I expected the guy on Kerry's boat with the twin 50s to blast him, but he couldn't depress the guns far enough. We were up on the bank."
Bellodeau died in 1997 and Kerry spoke at his funeral - but the presidential candidate has never corrected the record that gives him credit for Bellodeau's act of bravery.
John O'Neill, a leader of the Swiftvets running anti-Kerry TV ads, told the New York Post that the document uncovered by Hyman shows Kerry "was pursuing a wounded man and not charging alone into superior numbers and intense fire," as his Silver Star citation claims.
The Silver Star with Combat V citation that appears on Kerry's campaign web site bears the signature of former Navy Secretary John Lehman. But Lehman said two weeks ago that he never signed the Kerry award, raising questions about whether his signature had been forged.
Reacting to Lehman's comments, a Navy spokesman told the Chicago Sun-Times that the service has never issued a Silver Star with Combat V to anyone.
Hog
What does this matter?? a Man who would falsify his own records.. whats he going to do with the rest of the Country's records???
