THE 34-YEAR OLD TYPO

(Erika Holzer, co-author)

When Erika Holzer and I wrote "John Kerry's Mysterious Combat "V," published at www.frontpagemag.com on August 20th, we said the following (set off by the asterisks):

The presence of the combat “V” with Kerry’s Silver Star on his DD 214 raises two extremely disquieting questions. How did the unauthorized “V” get there, and why has Kerry allowed it to remain?

The first question should not be taken lightly because we are talking about possible federal crimes. We are talking about the possibility of a forged official document. We are talking, as well, about Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001, which states: “[W]hoever, in any manner within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the United States, knowingly and willfully . . . makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years or both.”

Was the combat “V” added by a sloppy clerk or a yeoman’s typo thirty years ago? Was someone pressured or persuaded to add it? If Kerry had nothing to do with the gratuitously added combat “V,” why didn’t he have his DD 214 corrected when he was separated from the Navy?

Which gives rise to the second disturbing question: If Kerry was not a party to the unauthorized “V,” why, for all these years, has he allowed his DD 214 to remain uncorrected and to repose on his website?

In light of the recent Swift Boat revelations and the cloud they have cast over Kerry’s awards, one plausible answer is that this is yet another example of Kerry’s multiple, and increasingly transparent, lies about his alleged heroics in Vietnam.

Let’s hope it won’t take a controversial TV spot to spark a mainstream media investigation of how candidate Kerry received an unearned “V” for valor.

Well, it almost did.

Depite substantial efforts by the folks at FrontPageMagazine, our requests to this list to get the word out, and the considerable forwarding done by this list's recipients, it has been very difficult to crack through the mainstream media's indifference and even its dishonesty.

That said, however, I have just come to my computer from watching Fox News, which reported the story I sent to you earlier today: the Navy is now investigating Kerry's medals, including his Silver Star's Combat "V" (and, probably, the puzzling three citations).

The Kerry campaign's response to the Navy's investigation has put their candidate in a box: predictably,"it's a typo," they say.

Oddly, a "typo" exaggerating the record of a man now known for his exaggerations (e.g., Cambodia, wounds, rescues, Purple Hearts)!

But assuming arguendo (as we lawyers say, "for the sake of argument") that it really was a typo, Kerry is now impaled on one horn of his inescapable dilemma.

As we wrote in the article quoted above, "If Kerry was not a party to the unauthorized “V,” why, for all these years, has he allowed his DD 214 to remain uncorrected and to repose on his website?" Why, indeed?

And when a few years ago Kerry corrected his DD 214 with a DD 215, to add even more questionable medals, did he not correct the false Combat "V" on his Silver Star?

Well, perhaps he was distracted.

And maybe he was distracted back in 1970 WHEN HE SIGNED HIS DD 214, AND DISTRACTED AGAIN RECENTLY WHEN HE PUT HIS DD 214 ON HIS WEBSITE WITH THE UNAUTHORIZED, ILLEGAL, FAKE, AND PERHAPS EVEN CRIMINAL, COMBAT "V."

Please get the word out.

And stay tuned.

This is the beginning of the beginning.