John Kerry Lied, three Purple Hearts Kerry? Say it isn't so!
@GtHawk NONE required hospitalization,or even stitches,and he put himself in for all three while serving as the acting CO when the commander was on leave. He got enlisted men to sign as witnesses,but it is unknown at this time what he gave them in return.
He also put himself in for the Silver Star he got while the CO was on leave,and the Admiral that was in the position of approving or disapproving the award was a friend of his mother.
Here is the background on his VN story. Kerry was a fan of JFK,and wanted to emulate him to set the stage for his political career,so he got a commission and volunteered for an assignment to a patrol boat that cruised around offshore,and sent boarding parties to go search sampan's for weapons,explosives,etc,etc,etc.
The problem was that by the time his assignment was approved,the Navy no longer ran patrol boats off shore. They ran smaller patrol boats up the rivers,and it was a MUCH more dangerous job.
So,like JFK,he punked out. He tried to get the transfer killed because being assigned to the River Patrol was not what he had volunteered for. He got sent to VN anyhow,and the US Military had a policy back then of re-assigning any US military member back to the US if he or she got wounded/awarded a Purple Heart,regardless of how much time they had already served there.
So Kerry wrote himself up for 3 Purple Hearts and a Silver Star,and was sent back to the US as a "wounded hero" and assigned to the staff on an Admiral,who he flew around in his own private airplane.
