Vietnam Vets in Hanoi Back Kerry with T-Shirts

HANOI - With the U.S. presidential race taking a decidedly bitter turn over John Kerry’s Vietnam war record, U.S. veterans in Hanoi are selling T-shirts supporting his run for the White House.

"It’s an effort on the part of a few of us to bring some attention to Kerry’s war record to counter some of the allegations and some of the lies being made of his service in Vietnam," Chuck Searcy, who served for a year in Vietnam, said on Saturday.

The T-shirts being sold for $5 have "Americans Overseas for Kerry" on the front and a picture of President Bush’s face with a line crossed through it.

Searcy said Larry Holzman, a Hanoi-based American who runs a non-profit organization, arranged for 100 T-shirts to be printed, with the shipment arriving a few days ago. About 25 shirts have been sold, he added.

"The first day they came in, we had a stack at a cafe and were examining them, and four Japanese tourists asked if they could buy them," he said.

Kerry — who was wounded in the southern Mekong Delta and received three Purple Hearts, a Bronze and Silver Star — asked the Federal Election Commission on Friday to force a group accused of collaborating with the Bush campaign to withdraw ads challenging his service in Vietnam.

Bush’s campaign advisers denied any involvement in advertisements by the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but has refused to denounce the ads. The White House, in a new line of attack, criticized Kerry for "losing his cool" over the accusations.

Kerry frequently cites his military record, which his supporters contrast with that of Bush, who spent the war in the United States serving in the Texas Air National Guard. Some Democrats have accused Bush of going absent without leave from the guard, citing gaps in his attendance record.

Kerry has repudiated another television ad financed by Kerry supporters, accusing Bush of using family connections to avoid going to Vietnam.

The Vietnam War ended in 1975 with the victory of the northern communists over the U.S.-backed south. (Reuters)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=6034437