|
Kerry sought to avoid direct involvement in Vietnam
So which is it?
I didn’t really want to get involved in the war.That’s John Kerry in 1986, explaining why, after a year aboard a guided missile frigate, he chose to serve on Swift boats, which at the time (summer of 1968) were used strictly for coastal patrols and saw no combat. According to several accounts, Kerry was vocally unhappy when the Swift boats were later assigned to dangerous river duty inside Vietnam.
During the Vietnam War, many young men, including the current president, the vice president and me, could have gone to Vietnam and didn’t. John Kerry came from a privileged background. He could have avoided going, too. But instead he said, “Send me.” (Cheers, applause.)That’s Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, July 2004.
In other respects, March 13 would mark the culmination of Kerry’s Vietnam War career. With three Purple Hearts, he became eligible for reassignment. Within three weeks, he was out of Vietnam and headed home after a truncated four-month combat tour.That’s the Washington Post summarizing Kerry’s departure from Vietnam.
So, according to Kerry, he wanted to avoid the war, and according to the Post and as well as Kerry’s own account on the Dick Cavett show in 1971, he got out of Vietnam as quickly as he could, leaving the war after four months while all the other Swifties stayed for a minimum of a year. How does that square with the boastful claim, “He said, ‘Send me.’”? Email entry |