Rescued Veteran Endorses Kerry

DES MOINES —  John F. Kerry never saw them coming -- not the attack and firefight on the Bay Hap River when he saved a man in the chaos of Vietnam; not the endorsement that evolved from it, unbidden, 35 years later.

The Massachusetts senator had been on a roll all Saturday morning, with big crowds and fiery speeches. He skipped a candidate forum in Dubuque, Iowa, because he’d been so engaged with the voters in Davenport. Then it was back to the campaign bus for a three-hour sprint on Interstate 80 to Des Moines.

What Kerry didn’t know when he hit the highway was that his Washington headquarters had received a call Friday from the man he had rescued on that river long ago. The man who recommended him for a Silver Star with a V for Valor (he got the Bronze). The man Kerry hadn’t talked to since saving his life.

James Rassmann, 56, a veteran of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department, retired and now lives in Oregon. A registered Republican, Rassmann has spent the last two decades watching the senator’s career.

Kerry’s staff had planned to reunite the men at a Des Moines campaign stop scheduled for 4:30 p.m. But Kerry didn’t know that until he was well along I-80 and an aide reached over and handed him a cellphone.

The news turned the buoyant Kerry a little somber, a little rattled, a little at a loss for words.

“I’m amazed, I’m very emotional about it,” he told reporters en route to Des Moines. “It’s, um....” A long pause. “It’s stunning. It’s amazing to have a guy from 35 years ago just appear. I’m very touched. I’m very touched.”

Kerry and his crew had been motoring down the Bay Hap River on March 13, 1969, when their swift boat was jolted by an exploding mine. Rassmann, Kerry recounted to reporters “was blown off the boat

Picking up the story later in television cameras’ glare, Rassmann told the rapt crowd that he “started swimming under water, getting shot at. I figured my number was punched.” But Kerry ordered his boat to turn around. As it approached the swimming man, Rassmann grabbed the cargo net and an injured Kerry pulled him aboard.

“John came to the front under fire,” Rassmann said. “He could have been shot and killed. I figure I owe this man my life.” Kerry bowed his head, shuffled his feet. “I’d be very, very surprised if anything he told you was not the truth,” Rassmann continued. “He’s getting my vote.”