“Many Vietnam Vets Will Object to Kerry”
by Terry Garlock
Now that Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is claiming the veteran vote based on his war record, both sides of that story should be told. To appreciate the dark side of Sen. Kerry’s war record, you should know a few things about Vietnam veterans.
For example, having fought in an unpopular war 30 something years ago, and having been awarded medals, is noteworthy. But it doesn’t give anyone a pass – their record and their ideas should be examined on their own merit.
And reporters make a mistake when they divide us into decorated veterans like Sen. Kerry and then all the others. We like to think of ourselves as brothers, whether we fought the enemy directly in combat or served in vital support roles in protected areas that were often exposed to attack.
Even today, after all this time, when two Vietnam veterans meet one another for the first time they are likely to say “Welcome home brother!” because many were never welcomed home - they met the cold shoulder of an ungrateful nation on their return.
Those of us whose job was combat feel a very special brotherhood. We learned to trust our brothers on the ground, on the water and in the air to do the right things to protect one another, even under fire. We came to deeply value the same trust they placed in us, and that mutual trust would form a bond that cannot be fully explained in words. We quietly feared dying in battle, but there was something we feared even more. We knew if we should panic under fire and fail to do our job, we might lose our brothers’ trust or we might lose their lives, and this we feared more than anything.
Like Sen. Kerry, I have a few medals. But among combat veterans, who has what medal doesn’t make a dime’s worth of difference between us. What matters is that we are, for the rest of our life, brothers who kept faith with one another in a miserable war.
A young John Kerry, however, broke faith with his brothers when he returned to the US. With the financial aid of Jane Fonda he led highly visible protests against the war.
He wrote a book that many considered to be pro-Hanoi, titled The New Soldier. The cover photo of his book depicted veterans in patchwork military uniforms, holding the American flag upside down and mocking the legendary image of Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi in the 1945 battle for Iwo Jima.
Sen. Kerry publicly supported Hanoi’s position to use our POWs as a bargaining chip in negotiations for a peace agreement.
Sen. Kerry played a key role in “Winter Soldier,” a Jane Fonda event where over 100 men, many of whom were later discredited, testified about atrocities committed in the Vietnam war by American soldiers.
In 1971 Sen. Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relation Committee and said our soldiers in Vietnam were not America’s best as Vice President Agnew had claimed, but that they were committing widespread rape, torture and murder of Vietnamese civilians. We who were there know that to be untrue. Later that same day Sen. Kerry threw what he said were his medals over a fence in front of the capitol building in protest, on camera of course, but was years later caught in his lie when his medals turned up displayed on his office wall.
Some say Sen. Kerry’s anti-war stance arose from his political ambitions since the war was so unpopular, and I cannot say I know his motivations. But when he ran for congress in 1972 maybe he thought his book and it’s cover would be an embarrassment since it remarkably disappeared from store and library shelves. I would guess Hercule Poirot himself could not find a copy today.
Many good and decent people other than Sen. Kerry opposed the Vietnam war. Many of us who fought it hated it, too, I know I did. But like Jane Fonda’s infamous visit to Hanoi in 1972, Sen. Kerry’s public actions encouraged our enemy at a time they were killing America’s sons. Decades after the war was done, interviews with our former enemy’s leaders confirmed that public protests in the US, like Sen. Kerry’s, played a significant role in their strategy and worked against our chances of victory. Many of us wonder which of our brothers who died young would be alive today had people like Jane Fonda and Sen. Kerry objected to the war in a more suitable way.
Now that it serves his ambition to be President, Sen. Kerry reminds the public of his war record daily, but the story of the dark side of that record is not being told. Many Vietnam veterans have taken notice, and many of us will vigorously oppose Sen. Kerry’s election to any office. I will be one of them.
by Terry Garlock
Now that Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is claiming the veteran vote based on his war record, both sides of that story should be told. To appreciate the dark side of Sen. Kerry’s war record, you should know a few things about Vietnam veterans.
For example, having fought in an unpopular war 30 something years ago, and having been awarded medals, is noteworthy. But it doesn’t give anyone a pass – their record and their ideas should be examined on their own merit.
And reporters make a mistake when they divide us into decorated veterans like Sen. Kerry and then all the others. We like to think of ourselves as brothers, whether we fought the enemy directly in combat or served in vital support roles in protected areas that were often exposed to attack.
Even today, after all this time, when two Vietnam veterans meet one another for the first time they are likely to say “Welcome home brother!” because many were never welcomed home - they met the cold shoulder of an ungrateful nation on their return.
Those of us whose job was combat feel a very special brotherhood. We learned to trust our brothers on the ground, on the water and in the air to do the right things to protect one another, even under fire. We came to deeply value the same trust they placed in us, and that mutual trust would form a bond that cannot be fully explained in words. We quietly feared dying in battle, but there was something we feared even more. We knew if we should panic under fire and fail to do our job, we might lose our brothers’ trust or we might lose their lives, and this we feared more than anything.
Like Sen. Kerry, I have a few medals. But among combat veterans, who has what medal doesn’t make a dime’s worth of difference between us. What matters is that we are, for the rest of our life, brothers who kept faith with one another in a miserable war.
A young John Kerry, however, broke faith with his brothers when he returned to the US. With the financial aid of Jane Fonda he led highly visible protests against the war.
He wrote a book that many considered to be pro-Hanoi, titled The New Soldier. The cover photo of his book depicted veterans in patchwork military uniforms, holding the American flag upside down and mocking the legendary image of Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi in the 1945 battle for Iwo Jima.
Sen. Kerry publicly supported Hanoi’s position to use our POWs as a bargaining chip in negotiations for a peace agreement.
Sen. Kerry played a key role in “Winter Soldier,” a Jane Fonda event where over 100 men, many of whom were later discredited, testified about atrocities committed in the Vietnam war by American soldiers.
In 1971 Sen. Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relation Committee and said our soldiers in Vietnam were not America’s best as Vice President Agnew had claimed, but that they were committing widespread rape, torture and murder of Vietnamese civilians. We who were there know that to be untrue. Later that same day Sen. Kerry threw what he said were his medals over a fence in front of the capitol building in protest, on camera of course, but was years later caught in his lie when his medals turned up displayed on his office wall.
Some say Sen. Kerry’s anti-war stance arose from his political ambitions since the war was so unpopular, and I cannot say I know his motivations. But when he ran for congress in 1972 maybe he thought his book and it’s cover would be an embarrassment since it remarkably disappeared from store and library shelves. I would guess Hercule Poirot himself could not find a copy today.
Many good and decent people other than Sen. Kerry opposed the Vietnam war. Many of us who fought it hated it, too, I know I did. But like Jane Fonda’s infamous visit to Hanoi in 1972, Sen. Kerry’s public actions encouraged our enemy at a time they were killing America’s sons. Decades after the war was done, interviews with our former enemy’s leaders confirmed that public protests in the US, like Sen. Kerry’s, played a significant role in their strategy and worked against our chances of victory. Many of us wonder which of our brothers who died young would be alive today had people like Jane Fonda and Sen. Kerry objected to the war in a more suitable way.
Now that it serves his ambition to be President, Sen. Kerry reminds the public of his war record daily, but the story of the dark side of that record is not being told. Many Vietnam veterans have taken notice, and many of us will vigorously oppose Sen. Kerry’s election to any office. I will be one of them.
