Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, left, and William B. Rood, right, are shown in this undated photo at the Swift boat base at An Thoi shortly after the action for which Kerry was awarded the Silver Star and Rood was awarded the Bronze Star in early 1969 during his service in Vietnam. Both men are holding weapons captured in the mission. Rood, a night city editor with the Chicago Tribune, who served with Kerry during the Vietnam War as the commander of a Navy swift boat on the 1969 mission ischallenging the attacks on Kerry's account of the incident. (AP Photo/Chicago Tribune, Courtesy William B. Rood)
Sat Aug 21, 9:02 PM ET
CHICAGO - A Chicago Tribune editor who was on the Vietnam mission for which John Kerry received the Silver Star is backing up Kerry's account of the incident.
William Rood, 61, said he decided to break his silence about the Feb. 28, 1969, mission because reports by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are incorrect and darken the reputations of veterans who served with Kerry, according to a report in the Tribune's Sunday editions.
Rood, an editor on the Tribune's metropolitan desk, said the allegations that Kerry's accomplishments were overblown are untrue. Kerry came up with an attack strategy that was praised by their superiors, Rood said.
"The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubt on all of us," Rood said in a 1,700-word first-person account published in the newspaper. "It's gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there."...
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