A retired admiral who was with John Kerry when they were patrolling the Mekong Delta in a Boston whaler/skimmer on Dec. 2, 1968, has come forward with an account challenging Kerry's claim that he was wounded by enemy fire that day - an action for which he was awarded the Purple Heart.
There was no fire from the enemy," said William L. Schachte Jr. "Kerry nicked himself with a M-79 [grenade launcher]."
Schachte's account, first obtained by commentator Robert Novak for his Friday column, is the first from an eyewitness that challenges the circumstances of Kerry's Dec. 2 injury.
Because he was so well placed, Schachte's version severely undermines Kerry defenders, who say no critics of his claimed battle injuries were aboard any of the boats on which he served.
Reports Novak:
"Schachte, who also was then a lieutenant junior grade, said he was in command of the small Boston whaler or skimmer, with Kerry aboard in his first combat mission in the Vietnam War.
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"The third crew member was an enlisted man whose name Schachte did not remember.
"At about 3 a.m. on Dec. 2, Schachte said, the skimmer - code-named 'Batman' - fired a hand-held flare. He said that after Kerry's M-16 rifle jammed, the new officer picked up the M-79 and 'I heard a "thunk." There was no fire from the enemy.'"
"I was astonished by Kerry's version" of the Dec. 2 injury as reported in Kerry's campaign biography, "Tour of Duty," Schachte told Novak.
Schachte is not a member of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth and told the columnist that he decided to come forward only after seeing Kerry defender Lanny Davis challenge his credibility on the Aug. 12 broadcast of CNN's "Crossfire."
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