August 20, 2004
IF NIXON COULD BE PRESIDENT IN '68, WHY COULDN'T LEHMAN BE SECRETARY?:
Tarnished silver? ( Jennifer Harper, 8/19/04, Washington Times)
Uneven military service records have proved toxic to John Kerry's campaign for president, prompting him to post his full military record on his Web site (www.johnkerry.com) for critics to peruse.But one sharp-eyed Washington Times reader — a former B-52 pilot and U.S. Air Force colonel — isn't buying Mr. Kerry's pre-emptive strike.
"I looked at that Web site and the first thing I looked at was Kerry's Silver Star citation. Guess what? It is for an action that took place in 1969, but it is signed by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Strangely, Lehman was secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987," he noted.
From what the talking heads are saying it would not be at all unusual to have lost paperwork and whatnot and need a new citation, but would be unheard of to have a new one written by a subsequent Secretary of the Navy. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 20, 2004 12:21 AM
I don't know from talking heads, but when I had to get my MSM citation redone, it had the wrong Secretary-- and even though Bush was in office, my Retirement Certificate (sutable for framing!) has Clinton's signature on it! They pull whatever they want out of the box, I think.
Posted by: LTC SInger at August 20, 2004 12:44 AMBut it's one thing to use an old certificate that's been presigned by the previous officeholder, and quite another to have one redone roughly 15 years later....
Posted by: PapayaSF at August 20, 2004 12:57 AMThat's not the only question over Kerry's Silver Star. Go to FrontPage magazine and you'll see that Kerry's DD 214 says he got his Silver Star with V for valor -- but the V isn't offered for Silver Stars -- raising the question if the form is fake.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14743
pj: I don't think we should hang our hat on the notion that the Silver Star with a V is a fake. If it's real, then it's easy for Kerry to prove that it's real, and if so the "V" error is likely not his. (And I don't think we can blame him too much for not noticing the error, which is rather obscure, especially when other Swiftvets got citations apparently with innaccurate battle facts.) We know Kerry got a Silver Star (we dispute the facts leading to it, but not that it was awarded). I doubt he's embellish it with a "V" when that doesn't really add to its impressiveness.
Posted by: akmdave at August 20, 2004 11:39 AMakmdave - I'm not hanging a hat on anything, but it's about time for Kerry to start releasing military records and resolving questions, don't you think?
Posted by: pj at August 20, 2004 7:22 PM