Selective Memories

[ChrisL]

During WWII a Japanese soldier bit the thumb of an American GI. The GI received the purple heart, and this was before purple hearts became valuable as five points toward going home.

Oh, oops, I misunderstood. Lol. I thought you were saying that John Kerry got a purple heart for being bit!

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

The Vietnamese people were never my enemy...the Viet Cong did nothing at all to me or to America...they were trying to control their own destiny and would not submit to our domination...

 

[ChrisL]

I guess some veterans of the war aren't very impressed with John Kerry anyway.

SO-CALLED “WAR HERO” JOHN KERRY A FRAUD

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

I guess some veterans of the war aren't very impressed with John Kerry anyway.

SO-CALLED “WAR HERO” JOHN KERRY A FRAUD

They were more impressed with Missing in Action 43 ?

 

[ChrisL]

I have to admit, I don't like John Kerry at all. He seems like just another self-absorbed politician to me. Being opposed to the war is one thing, but denigrating the soldiers who are over there (some of them even drafted), a lot of whom were just basically kids, is pretty bad. In fact, that is VERY bad form for an American politician I would think.

 

[ChrisL]

I guess some veterans of the war aren't very impressed with John Kerry anyway.

SO-CALLED “WAR HERO” JOHN KERRY A FRAUD

They were more impressed with Missing in Action 43 ?

Is that the best you got? Lol. Honestly, I can't think of even ONE politician that I trust or like. How you partisans can stick so hard to party lines is beyond my comprehension.

 

[ChrisL]

Bush might have come across as stupid, but still kind of a likable guy. However, John Kerry? There isn't much "likability" there, if you ask me.

Hey John Kerry, why the long face??

 

[ChrisL]

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

Bush might have come across as stupid, but still kind of a likable guy. However, John Kerry? There isn't much "likability" there, if you ask me.

Hey John Kerry, why the long face??

Bush ...didn't he lose a fight to a pretzel ....? I think Laura kicked his drunken ass

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

 

[TyroneSlothrop]

what Me worry

 

[9thIDdoc]

Is that true? John Kerry got an award for being bit on the thumb?

No, Kerry's "wounds" were not nearly that severe. One was about like a shaving cut and the other similar to a paper cut. It appears he managed to get two purple hearts for the same injury; not sure which. I think one was so severe it required a bandaid.

 

[rightwinger]

Is that true? John Kerry got an award for being bit on the thumb?

No, Kerry's "wounds" were not nearly that severe. One was about like a shaving cut and the other similar to a paper cut. It appears he managed to get two purple hearts for the same injury; not sure which. I think one was so severe it required a bandaid.

John Kerry military service controversy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The criteria for the Purple Heart call for its award for any injury received during combat requiring treatment by a medical officer; the military makes no distinction regarding the severity of the injury. Under military regulations, the Purple Heart can also be awarded for "friendly fire" wounds in the "heat of battle," so long as the fire is targeted "under full intent of inflicting damage or destroying enemy troops or equipment."
An article in the Boston Globe described the circumstances in which Purple Hearts were given to wounded Swift Boat personnel in Vietnam:
"'There were an awful lot of Purple Hearts—from shrapnel; some of those might have been M-40 grenades,' said George Elliott, Kerry's commanding officer. 'The Purple Hearts were coming down in boxes. Kerry, he had three Purple Hearts. None of them took him off duty. Not to belittle it, that was more the rule than the exception."[14]
In Douglas Brinkley's book Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War, Brinkley notes that Purple Hearts were given out frequently:
"As generally understood, the Purple Heart is given to any U.S. citizen wounded in wartime service to the nation. Giving out Purple Hearts increased as the United States started sending Swifts up rivers. Sailors—no longer safe on aircraft carriers or battleships in the Gulf of Tonkin—were starting to bleed, a lot."
According to the Los Angeles Times:
"Navy rules during the Vietnam War governing Purple Hearts did not take into account a wound's severity—and specified only that injuries had to be suffered 'in action against an enemy.'"
"A Times review of Navy injury reports and awards from that period in Kerry's Swift boat unit shows that many other Swift boat personnel won Purple Hearts for slight wounds of uncertain origin

 

[regent]

In WWII many eligible for the Purple Heart did not receive one simply because by the time they saw a medic the wound had already started to heal. It simply wasn't worth it to the medics or the GI to worry about a wound that was already healing. Mauldin had a cartoon about those types of incidents. Then bingo the purple heart became important when they became going-home points. Too late.

 

[9thIDdoc]

"The criteria for the Purple Heart call for its award for any injury received during combat requiring treatment by a medical officer;..."

Shaving cuts do not require treatment by a medical officer. No one but a sleeze wanting to game the system would have done more than maybe get a bandaid out of the boat's first aid kit and gone on about his business.

"... and specified only that injuries had to be suffered 'in action against an enemy.'"

No good reason to believe Kerry was ever injured in action against an enemy once much less three times.

 

[regent]

Six Americans have received eight purple hearts.

 

[ChrisL]

So, I wonder if receiving a purple heart is connected to "who you know?"