Talk:John Kerry/First Wound

It should be stated that Kerry recieved a purple heart.
His crewmates assertion that he was injured, but by what they do not know.
The doctors statement that he was injured, and that he thought it could have been from a mortar round.
That the Kerry campaign asserts that the doctor in question never had any contact with Kerry.
That the Kerry campaign has not released any record that indicates he was treated for injury

Here are articles with supporting facts for both sides of the arguement: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Now, remember that most of these sources are biased, so be objective!

Most of the carping seems to me to be about trivia -- Kerry opponents who are desperate for a basis to attack him can't deny that he was in Vietnam, that he came under fire, that he was wounded more than once, that he was decorated, etc., so they try to raise phony questions about what color underwear the treating physician was wearing. (Now, before anyone accuses me of being snide, let me make clear that I know no one has raised that particular point -- at least not yet. I'm exaggerating for effect. It's not snideness, it's a recognized literary technique known as hyperbole.) I'm not impressed by the evidence they've offered, but rather than waste a lot of time arguing about it, or working out a finely calibrated presentation of every minute item than anyone can think of to quarrel about, I think it would be simpler to finesse many of the contested points. Case in point: the shrapnel. There's documentary evidence that the doctor removed it. Rex speculates that maybe Kerry removed it. I think the evidence supports the former viewpoint, but, in the interest of not spending eternity arguing about this foolishness, I'm willing to let Rex's persistence pay off to the extent of some unwarranted weakening of the narration. We can simply say that the shrapnel was removed. We'll just have to leave it vague whether it was removed by Kerry, the doctor, or the Shrapnel Fairy. (That snideness isn't mine. It's a reference to a snide comment Hawkeye Pierce made in an episode of M*A*S*H.) JamesMLane 02:18, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)