Rood, who commanded one of three swift boats during the Feb. 28, 1969 mission, acknowledged in his first-person account that there could always be errors in recollection, especially with the passage of more than three decades. His Bronze Star citation, he said, misidentifies the river where the main action occurred.
That mistake, he said, is a “cautionary note for those trying to piece it all together. There’s no final authority on something that happened so long ago—not the documents and not even the strained recollections of those of us who were there.
“But I know that what some people are saying now is wrong,” Rood wrote. “While they mean to hurt Kerry, what they’re saying impugns others who are not in the public eye.”
My father-in-law earned three Purple Hearts in the Pacific: I have nothing but contempt for anyone who challenges the validity of combat decorations or citations.
So where are Bush’s messmates? Who flew with him? Who serviced his jet? Who trained him?