August 9, 2004

Local Swift Boat Vet Denounces Kerry

One of the vets in the news lives right here on the Monterey Peninsula:

Whatever the merits of John Kerry's heroics in Vietnam, his actions in leaving combat quickly and denouncing some of his shipmates afterward touch a sharply throbbing nerve with a Pacific Grove Navy veteran who served in the same small boat squadron as Kerry.

Richard O'Mara, who served for a year as a gunner's mate aboard a PCF patrol craft or "swift boat" in the Mekong Delta region in 1968-69, still steams over Kerry's testimony in 1971 before the Senate Armed Services Committee in which Kerry accused fellow sailors of war crimes.

O'Mara is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of more than 200 vets familiar with Kerry's service who oppose his candidacy for president.

[....]

"I'm not part of a right-wing, Republican conspiracy," O'Mara said. "I've been involved in this a long time. I've known these things about this guy for a long time. I'm not getting a nickel."

O'Mara has lived and worked in Pacific Grove for more than 20 years. He once owned a beachfront snack stand at Lovers Point -- Fat Richie's -- and has been an antique dealer, artist and construction worker.

His objections to a Kerry candidacy center around loyalty, which O'Mara said the Democratic candidate betrayed in two ways.

"This is about John Kerry's actions in Vietnam," he said, "and most importantly his actions afterward, while the fight was still going on."

Kerry, he said, left his enlisted crew behind after four months in-country after receiving three minor wounds.

"He deserted his crew. He deserted the whole unit. He took all the training he had and wasted it."

Then, O'Mara said, Kerry appeared before a Senate panel to denounce the war and some of his shipmates as war criminals.

"People were fighting and dying while he lied through his teeth."

If Kerry witnessed war crimes, O'Mara said, he had a duty to report them.

"We constantly went out of our way not to injure civilians, damage their fish traps or fish nets," he said.

Kerry's statements before the Senate "did tremendous damage to the war effort," O'Mara said, and hurt veterans coming home.

Posted by Ithildin at August 9, 2004 10:51 AM | PROCURE FINE OLD WORLD ABSINTHE

All this trashing of Kerry only makes me all the bitter against Bush. I also will never give another nickel to the Vietnam Veterans associations that call my home all the time. These veterans are doing more harm to themselves than to Kerry! Bush and his supporters are behind these ads and they are nothing but cowards and don't want to deal with a close race, so they are fighting dirty - Shame on you all!

Posted by: Tom Gunkmentl at August 22, 2004 10:01 AM

You obviously haven't been following the story line very closely. These men aren't pro Bush, they are anti Kerry. They feel like he betrayed them with his 1971 testimony before the Senate. He lumped them all together and accused all of them of war crimes and basic acts against humanity. He was never able to back up his claims, but his words were taken as the truth by many in the media and the American public in general.

Posted by: Shawn Udy at August 23, 2004 9:56 PM