(Washington, DC)  Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, announced today that it has made a supplemental filing with Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England to its August 18, 2004, formal complaint titled, “Request for Investigation, Determination and Final Disposition of Awards Granted to Lieutenant (junior grade) John Forbes Kerry, USNR.”

The supplemental filing, available by clicking here (pdf version) or here (html version), provides the Secretary of the Navy with additional analysis of Senator Kerry’s publicly available Navy record concerning his award of the Silver Star, in light of Secretary of the Navy (“SECNAV”) Instruction 1650.1G (“Navy and Marine Corps Awards Manual”).  Orders and citations posted on Senator Kerry’s Internet site reflect citations for the Silver Star being “awarded” to Senator Kerry under the authority of both Vice Admiral Zumwalt (Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Vietnam) and Admiral Hyland (Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet).  Section 113.3 of SECNAVINST 1650.1G directs that only the Secretary of the Navy can, in the name of the President, award the Silver Star.

Journalist Thomas Lipscomb, writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, quoted a Navy spokesperson stating: “The Navy has never issued a ‘Combat V’ to anyone for a Silver Star.”  Additionally, former Navy Secretary John Lehman was quoted in the Sun-Times article with respect to the Silver Star citation as saying: “It is a total mystery to me.  I never saw it.  I never signed it.  I never approved it.  And the additional language it contains was not written by me.”

Furthermore, Senator Kerry’s records also reflect the award of a Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze stars.  Military experts consulted by Judicial Watch believe Kerry’s brief tour of duty in Vietnam would have merited no more than two bronze stars on a Vietnam Service Medal.  Interestingly, Senator Kerry’s records contain a DD Form 215, used by Senator Kerry to correct his DD Form 214, to add additional campaign stars on his Vietnam Service Medal but not to correct the gross error of a “Silver Star with Combat ‘V.’”

“The deeper we look into Kerry’s service records, the more suspicious we are of misconduct.  The Navy should expand its ongoing investigation of Kerry’s awards to include the illicit Combat “V” on his Silver Star,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.