On 30 Jan 2004 23:13:58 GMT, (ArtKramr) wrote:

Subject: General Patton on Lieutenant Kerry
From: Ed Rasimus
Date: 1/30/04 2:52 PM Pacific Standard Time

And Lt. Kerry's three Purple Hearts, it has been
reported in a number of sources recently resulted in no missed duty
days--it's a puzzlement.

I don't believe a word of it. Do you? And are you saying that every silver star
ever awarded is now null and void? Or only those awarded to members of opposite
political parties?

Unfortunately I do believe a word of it. The sources that I read
seemed pretty well documented.

And, I don't say that every Silver Star awarded is null and void. I
will, however, say that I know of a lot of decorations that were not
earned. The issue with Kerry, as Patton and others have noted, is that
he was overly eager to shed his uniform, join the anti-war movement
while hundreds of thousands of his brothers-in-arms were still in
battle, undermining their support very publicly, allying himself with
the likes of jane fonda, discarding his medals (oops, someone else's
medals) and now, when it suits his somewhat flexible politics,
recloaking himself in the mantle of a hero.

FWIW, mine haven't been thrown over any fences and they aren't on any
public office walls. They are in a drawer, but still valued. Probably
like yours. And, I've kept faith with my comrades.

Further, I really don't like Senator Kerry's comments regarding the
President and his qualifications to welcome home the troops he
commands by flying aboard a carrier. George W. Bush was both a
commissioned officer (like Kerry) and a fully qualified AF fighter
pilot (unlike Kerry.) No president we've ever had is more qualified to
don the Nomex and carry a helmet.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8