War hero at home in line of fire [View All]

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8558407%255E2703,00.html

WHEN US Navy "swift" boat PCF-94 came under rocket attack from Vietcong fighters hidden in mangroves by the Dong Cung River on the last day of February 1969, the young lieutenant in charge opted to confront the enemy head-on.

Turning directly at the fire to minimise the target, Lieutenant John Kerry rammed his 16m boat at speed onto the riverbank, leapt ashore with his M-16, and set off at a sprint in pursuit of the attacker with the rocket-propelled grenade.

Some of Kerry's crew were shocked. It was against the rules to jump in and become a jungle fighter. "But thank God he did," Del Sandusky told historian Douglas Brinkley for his new book about Kerry at war, Tour of Duty.

Kerry's radio operator, Michael "Duke" Medeiros, was right behind him. "As the VC guerilla got 20 or 30 metres down the path, just about in front of a lean-to, the (future) senator shot the guy," Medeiros recalled. "He had been standing on both feet with a loaded rocket launcher, about to fire. He fell over dead."

For that, Kerry was awarded the Silver Star, the navy's third-highest award for bravery.

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