Swift boat veteran backs Kerry on details of 1969 ambush
Group continues its challenge of nominee's honors
Supporting John F. Kerry's recollection of a Vietnam War battle that is a focal point of criticism against him by a group of veterans, a gunner on the Navy swift boat immediately behind John F. Kerry's distinctly remembers enemy fire around them during a March 1969 ambush.
Wayne D. Langhofer, now an employee at a Kansas gunpowder plant, told the
Reflecting on the battle in the Bay Hap River, which resulted both in Kerry being awarded the Bronze Star and receiving a third Purple Heart, which allowed him to end his combat tour after just four months, Langhofer said he distinctly remembered the "clack, clack, clack" of enemy AK-47s, as well as muzzle flashes from the surrounding riverbanks. Langhofer manned a machine gun aboard PCF-43, the boat that was directly behind Kerry's.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group of Kerry opponents funded in part by a Texas contributor to President Bush, has argued that there was no enemy gunfire and that Kerry's injury did not warrant the Purple Heart that cleared the way for his departure from Vietnam. The group, arguing that the river attack and Kerry's subsequent war protests call into question his ability to be commander in chief, has launched an ad campaign against Kerry.
The Democratic presidential nominee has challenged Bush to call for the ads to be pulled, but the president has instead urged an end to all ads aired by independent groups, including those supporting Kerry that have advertised against Bush.
Langhofer told the Post, in what is apparently his first published interview, that he was approached several months ago by leaders of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth but declined their requests to speak out against Kerry.
Kerry was awarded the Bronze Star for rescuing James Rassmann, an Army Green Beret who was blown off Kerry's boat in the attack.
Rassmann said in an interview with the Post that members of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "are not just questioning Kerry's account, they are questioning my account. I take that very personally. No one can tell me that we were not under fire. I saw it, I heard the splashes, and I was scared to death. For them to come back 35 years after the fact to tarnish not only Kerry's record, but my veracity, is unconscionable."
Kerry spent the weekend in the Hamptons in New York, where a fund-raiser was held. He attended Mass at a church in Montauk before visiting with movie director Steven Spielberg in nearby East Hampton. The weathervane over Spielberg's home, dubbed "Quelle Farm," has a figurine of the dinosaur made famous in his "Jurassic Park" film series.
On the way to the airport, the senator's motorcade passed a pickup truck bearing the sign, "Kerry Go Home."
The senator arrived in Boston about 2 p.m. and later left his home in Louisburg Square for a bike ride along the Esplanade.
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. 