When pressed about what happened to his medals, Kerry now says
the medals he threw away were not his and that his are displayed in his
Senate office.

I'm not sure this is entirely true. What I heard said in the campaign
here in New Hampshire is that Kerry's citations (that is, the words,
not the metal and cloth) are on display in his office. They could have
been destroyed and replaced many times (so could his medals, for that
matter).

Kerry recently said (quoted in the Wall Street Journal) that he threw
away his own medals and those of two? other individuals who could not
be present that day (or perhaps who preferred not to be).

I don't know what the truth of this is. Perhaps he went back to the
pile afterward and retrieved his medals; I would hardly blame him for
that. How old was he, anyway? 25? Or perhaps he sent a clerk out to
replace them. The physical objects have no reality attached to them,
or very little. (I suppose that a Medal of Honor that was pinned on
you by the president has some specific merit as opposed to a
replacement.)

My own military honors were limited to the sharpshooter's medal, Good
Conduct medal, and National Defense medal, the latter two of which I
never bothered to collect (I was discharged in France). As a summer
soldier, I would never presume to critize a young man for what he did
with his medals. It was a time of guerrilla theater; Kerry had served
honorably, at risk to his life and limb, in a war that like so many of
us he later decided wasn't worth fighting.

As a Republican, I won't hold this episode against him. I am glad that
the Democrats have shaken off the flakes and opportunists and trial
lawyers and (seemingly) annointed a real leader.





all the best -- Dan Ford
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