Quote:
Originally posted by ktsnake
Did anyone notice that Dole came out on the side of the Swiftboat vets saying how he couldn't imagine someone receiving the purple heart for something that didn't even land them in a hospital?
Keep in mind, Dole only won ONE purple heart for being shot out of the sky and almost killed.
I think the swiftboat vets message is something that people should at least consider.
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I'll consider their message but it's hard to believe coming from a group of men in which many did not directly serve with Kerry. Some are probably bitter of what Kerry said over thirty years ago regarding atrocities and such in Vietnam. Did these things happen? I'm sure some did as according to accounts told by other Vietnam vet throughout the years. Does Kerry actually know? Did he actually witness these things? Maybe, maybe not? Did the swiftboat vets actually witness these things? Maybe, maybe not? But I'll take the message from those that actually served with Kerry a little more serious.
Do the swiftboat vets have a right to be upset about what Kerry said after he returned home? Hell yes they do as well they should be. I think that's the biggest issue here (as Rudey has stated many times).
I wish we'd get off the purple heart debate already because it really cheapens it. Dole was shot down in a plane and almost killed and only received "ONE" purple heart. My grandfather was wounded twice in one encounter and only received "ONE" purple heart in that instant. He was wounded in two other separate encounters and received a purple heart for each. This was always a hot topic with my grandfather because there was a lot of controversy surrounding purple hearts in this era. Many thought that they were "given out like candy."
He once told me that you can never place any amount of medals on the sacrifice of a solider. You can't give a solider five purple hearts for almost being killed. You can't give a solider three purple hearts for losing a leg. You can't give a soldier two purple hearts for losing an arm. But you can give a solider one purple heart for being wounded in battle, demonstrating the risk the solider takes, a risk that could ultimately result in death. He told me you can never compare a material object to the wound of a soldier because the purple heart demonstrates the sacrifice of the soldier (no matter to what degree) during a time in which a solider can lose everything.
That's a debate I hold dear to me because my grandfather always did...