Kerry's campaign provides some of his military records

WASHINGTON - Amid questions about his military records, John Kerry's campaign on Tuesday provided documentation of Vietnam War injuries that included shrapnel wounds to his arms, legs and buttocks that earned him three Purple Hearts.

Kerry spokesman Michael Meehan said the campaign was in the process of compiling the rest of Kerry's naval record and planned to begin posting it on Kerry's Web site (www.johnkerry.com) by day's end. During an appearance Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Kerry said all his military records are available to the public.

Meehan said the Massachusetts senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee requested a copy of his record from the Navy last month and received roughly 150 pages last week.

Conservatives, talk radio and some newspapers editorials have questioned whether Kerry was deserving of the three Purple Hearts, fueling questions about his Navy service from 1966 to 1970 and the seriousness of his injuries.

He served two tours of duty, four months on the USS Gridley frigate off Vietnam's shore and nearly five months as a swiftboat commander in the Mekong Delta. He volunteered for the second tour and earned all his medals during the second stint.

Meehan gave the Associated Press 13 pages that included documentation for the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

The documents also included declassified reports that briefly explain the injuries that led to Kerry's Purple Heart awards. They show Kerry had shrapnel wounds in his left thigh after his boat came under intense fire on Feb. 20, 1969, and he suffered shrapnel wounds in his left buttock and contusions on his right forearm when a mine detonated close to his boat on March 13, 1969.

The campaign could not locate a similar report for Kerry's original Purple Heart. As evidence that Kerry was wounded, Meehan showed the Associated Press a "Sick Call Treatment Record" from Kerry's personal files that included a brief written note about shrapnel in his left arm dated Dec. 3, 1968, and stamped from the naval support facility at Cam Ranh Bay.

Documentation for the second two injuries show that Kerry was deemed to be in good condition and returned to active duty after treatment. The documentation does not describe the severity of the injuries.

Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager, accused Kerry's campaign of waffling on the release of his military records, saying the campaign's position on Tuesday to release the records in "due diligence" is contrary to Kerry's comments on Meet the Press that the records would be made public immediately.

WASHINGTON - President Bush and John Kerry each added to their presidential fundraising firsts last month: Bush in part by hitting $185-million and spending nearly a third of it and Kerry by raising nearly $55-million in one quarter.

Kerry's $54.8-million fundraising total for January through March tops the $52.9-million Bush raised during the period. It also beats the previous presidential quarterly record of $50-million, set by Bush last summer.

The Democratic nominee-to-be has a long way to go to catch up with Bush's record overall fundraising, however. Kerry raised about $84-million from January 2003 through last month.

Bush and Kerry are now setting records with every dollar collected. That is in part because this is the first time both major-party nominees have skipped public financing for the primary season, freeing them from the program's $45-million spending limit.

Bush's spending in March, about $50-million, is the most ever in one month by a presidential campaign. Most of the money paid for his first wave of ads.

KERRY'S PURPLE HEART CITATIONS: http://wid.ap.org/documents/kerry/purplehearts.pdf

KERRY'S BRONZE AND SILVER STAR CITATIONS: http://wid.ap.org/documents/kerry/stars.pdf

REPORTS ON KERRY'S WOUNDS: http://wid.ap.org/documents/kerry/actionreports.pdf

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