Insight Exposes More of Kerry's Dishonorable Actions

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 11, 2004

Byline: INSIGHT

Insight Exposes More of Kerry's Dishonorable Actions

Stephen Crump's account of the controversy surrounding Sen. John Kerry's Purple Hearts is the best I have seen ["Purple Hearts: Three and Out," April 27-May 10]. I was a Navy fighter pilot in Vietnam and I don't believe anything Kerry has to say.

Please keep digging the truth is somewhere in his medical records. Also, it should be shown that he "put himself in" for his medals.

Dick Larsen

San Diego

*

As a Vietnam veteran who, unlike Sen. Kerry, actually served two tours "in-country," I am disgusted with the constant references to his "war hero" status. While I am willing to concede that Kerry had the courage to "show up," I am not at all convinced that the decorations bestowed upon him were either earned or appropriate.

My first tour in Vietnam was served as a "grunt" with the Marines. The amount and intensity of the combat we experienced far exceeded anything Kerry saw during his four months in harm's way. I witnessed countless acts of true courage on a daily basis, under the most dangerous of circumstances, which went wholly unacknowledged or without reward. Why Kerry was so highly and frequently decorated is a mystery to myself and to many other combat veterans.

I will never forgive Kerry's blatantly distorted and factually inaccurate testimony before Congress in which he slandered the thousands who died or were wounded in that conflict. All but a handful of military personnel served with honor throughout the Vietnam War.

The enduring myths of the Vietnam War continue to be propagated by newspapers, journals and politicians in the face of long-established facts to the contrary. Kerry cannot escape responsibility for creating some of these myths and should be held accountable for his actions. To this day, he seems incapable of apologizing for the damage he did to those who participated in America's most difficult conflict and, indeed, to the country in general. Kerry's testimony and sophomoric rhetoric helped divide our nation at a crucial point in its history.

Vote for him? Not on your life!

Richard Montgomery

Palm Bay, Fla.

*

My dad, Cyril L. Honts, served a one-year tour of duty in World War II. He could have received a Purple Heart for a bullet that grazed the side of his head, but it was more important to him to continue fighting the Germans and to keep all of his men alive. This is just one of the many genuine life-and-death situations that men such as my father faced.

These men performed with real courage, knew true brotherhood and understood the responsibility of the war environment. There is no way my father would have returned home and deserted his men over a few scratches the way that John Kerry did.

My father did receive three Bronze Stars, and when I hear all of his stories, I know that he deserved many more. His men were the most important factor to him, and his goal was to help win the war while keeping his men alive.

Gloria Afanador

Bakersfield, Calif.

*

The letter from the editor in the April 27-May 10 issue asking why John Kerry will not release his military and medical records was excellent. I just hope we can get the balance of the media to request the same thing. Why are they so quiet about this issue?

N. Bruce Ferris

Lincoln City, Ore.

*

Thanks for the simple and incisive editorial about Kerry's military, medical and tax records. I wish I could find an editorial like it in my own city's newspaper and in many other newspapers as well. I am weary of the biased media coverage. I'm thankful that Insight is there to speak out on my behalf.

R. Moeller

via the Internet

Different Perspectives on the Need for Republican Outreach

I do think that Republicans should intensify efforts to seek adherents amongst America's varied non-Caucasian ethnic groups [symposium, April 13-26]. I believe that as the political party most representative of the basic values of America and Americans, it is nothing less than good policy for the GOP to reach out to as many converts or new adherents as possible regardless of ethnicity.

I cannot satisfactorily comprehend how members of any race would willingly support a Democratic Party whose leftist ideology and principles are consistently hypocritical. The Democratic Party is most responsible in American and African-American history for maintaining per se race-based segregation, the denial of civil rights and voting rights, and the maintenance of racially constraining "glass ceilings" within U.S. industry and the management culture. These laws and "ceilings" restricted not only African-Americans for more than a century, but also adversely affected the socioeconomic development of patriotic Asian and Hispanic ethnic groups.

The GOP has a proud, excellent history. It should work diligently to ensure that all of America's diverse ethnic groups understand the significant and vital role that the Republican Party and rightism-based democratic capitalism played in promoting and fighting for across-the-board sociocultural change and political reform.