"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...

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).

A couple of other reports indicate he has (or had) the medals themselves on
display. Not that it matters much--he tossed the medals, and by doing so
turned his back on what they represented (though if he did get three PH's
without suffering *any* lost duty days, they may indeed have been sort of
meaningless in *his* case!); turning around and then putting even the
citations upon his wall is just being two-faced.


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.

He openly held them in contempt when he tossed them. I did not hear of that
gent who returned his French decorations to the French Embassy last year
going back and retrieving them later--he stood by his actions, be they good
or bad. Kerry wanted to have his cake and eat it, too--but now that cake is
likely to cause him a bit of indigestion.

(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.

Then let him live with that choice to discard his medals and not shamelessly
now try to parade them for his own benefit. My brother earned decorations in
that same conflict as did Kerry; he repeatedly risked his life as a Dustoff
pilot and was shot down once, and when his CO mentioned he thought he could
get him a PH for wrenching his back during the crash he differed. He never
threw his medals, one of which included a "V" device, over any fence when he
returned. He was buried with them. Maybe Kerry could show enough backbone to
likewise follow the course he set for himself and *live* without the medals
he discarded in such a public manner.


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.

In my book, a guy who discards his medals in a publicity stunt and then
later tries to parlay those same medals into improving his electability is
the supreme opportunist, regardless of which party he is affiliated with.

Brooks





all the best -- Dan Ford
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