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Issues: Election 2004 : Kerry's service in Vietnam
| Service before Vietnam (last updated 10/24/04) | Previous | Next
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Kerry's military record does not begin or end in Vietnam. He served combat duty in Vietnam for less than five months from November 1968 through April 1969 and received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts while serving there.
Kerry enlisted while still in college at Yale, which he graduated from in June 1966. He told the Boston Globe that he believed that his options were to be drafted, to seek a deferment for graduate school, or to enlist voluntarily, and that after he called the draft board and was told that he probably would be drafted, he decided to enlist to become an officer. He also has said that he was influenced by people such as Johnson administration official William Bundy who visited Yale to speak in support of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Some have said that Kerry was also influenced by political considerations and by a desire to emulate his idol, John F. Kennedy.
Kerry received training from the summer of 1966 through the spring of 1967, first at the Naval Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island, then the Naval Schools Command in San Francisco, and then the U.S. Fleet Anti-War Airfare Training Center in San Francisco. He then served from June 1967 to July 1968 on the frigate, the USS Gridley, which did stop in Vietnam for a brief period.
While serving on the Gridley, on February 10, 1968, Kerry requested a transfer to service in Vietnam as a Swift Boat commander. Kerry's request came shortly after the Tet offensive and more than two weeks before he learned that his friend Dick Pershing had died. Kerry has said that he had wanted to serve in Vietnam because he wanted his own command.
In an essay published in a 1986 book, the Vietnam Experience: A War Remembered, Kerry described why he decided to serve in Vietnam as follows:
| The first trip to Vietnam [on board the Gridley] did give me a heightened curiosity by virtue of having been so near and having been part of the support operation. But volunteering for the Swift boats had nothing to do with my curiosity about the war. They attracted me because it was the one thing you could do as a junior officer and have your own command. In fact, when I signed up for the Swift boats they had very little to do with the war. they were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing. Although I wanted to go back and see for myself what was going on, I didn't really want to get involved in the war." |
Records indicate that Kerry served well on the Gridley. Allen W. Slifer, commanding officer of the USS Gridley, wrote in a record supporting Kerry's request for transfer that Kerry "has trained, led, and genuinely inspired his division to produce results which seemed earlier to be beyond their capability. Highly intelligent, well-read and skilled at oral and written expression, Ensign KERRY is one of the brightest, most capable, young officers I have ever had the pleasure of observing. Meticulous in attention to detail, he is a sound administrator and a natural, highly effective leader."
Kerry underwent training for Vietnam service from August to November 1968 in California. He then left for what was expected to be one year of service in Vietnam.
For sources, go here.
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