Thurlow comments on his medal

[dude1394]

[l=thurlow]http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/9462873.htm?1c[/quote]

Bronze Star battle stokes hot tempers

Kansan challenges Kerry's war record

By SCOTT CANON The Kansas City Star and JOE GALLOWAY Knight Ridder Newspapers

BOGUE, Kan. — The records, insists the one-time Swift boat skipper, are simply wrong.

There was no enemy fire at his boat or John Kerry's or the three other boats that sunny afternoon, March 13, 1969, Larry Thurlow says. There was a single mine — not two — in that canal on the Bay Hap River, he says. Essentially, goes Thurlow's remembering of the day, Kerry fled in panic and came back to his comrades only when danger dissolved, so he doesn't deserve his Bronze Star.

........
The Washington Post then unearthed the citation for Thurlow's own Bronze Star — an award anchored in the story that makes a hero of the future Democratic presidential candidate.

Kerry is listed in Thurlow's award recommendation, and Thurlow in Kerry's. Both men stand honored for braving enemy fire. Kerry, the records state, did so while wounded by a mine blast. Navy documents describe Thurlow aiding wounded buddies “despite enemy bullets flying about him” and being knocked off a sinking craft in a river battle.

“If that's prerequisite to having this medal” — enemy fire, being knocked into the water — “then they can have it back,” said Thurlow, 61. “I thought they gave it to me for saving those guys.”

[dude1394]

Gunner on kerry's boat now can't "quite" remember if there was/was not "withering fire" while kerry returned.

Newsweek examines Kerry's Bronze Star and the Bay Hap River action; Sandusky backtracks on enemy fire

In its latest issue, another news weekly, Newsweek, begins to look closely at the Bay Hap River action out of which Kerry's Bronze Star was awarded, and offers this new bit to the mix:

Del Sandusky, the man steering Kerry's boat, told a different version to NEWSWEEK. He says his boat was jarred by an explosion, probably from a rocket, knocking the soldier, Jim Rassmann, off the boat. Kerry was thrown against the bulkhead, injuring his arm. Sandusky says he could see muzzle flashes from the jungle and bullets skimming across the water. Sandusky says he can't remember if anyone was still shooting when Kerry pulled Rassmann from the river, but in any case, the boat was banged up and taking on water.

Oh my gosh, how could Sandusky's protectors from the Kerry campaign let him stray from the party line? (Hat-tip to Captain Ed.)