Kerry’s Day Starts With Memorial

John F. Kerry turned to the solemn task of remembrance Monday, saluting disabled American veterans in a Memorial Day parade here and searching for the names of fallen friends along the polished granite expanse of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

In a campaign day that was more ceremony than substance, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president ventured into Virginia to woo veterans and high-tech workers in territory traditionally hostile to members of his party.

With Democratic Gov. Mark R. Warner by his side, Kerry cheered the marching bands and high-stepping baton twirlers, laid his hand on his heart as bagpipers wheezed out “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” and even applauded a clutch of Civil War reenactors dressed as members of the Confederate navy.

The Massachusetts senator also defended his visit and his campaign’s decision to advertise in a state that hadn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the last 40 years.

“I don’t care what’s usual or not usual,” he told reporters on his campaign plane en route from Washington to Virginia. “We’re going after a lot of places. There’s not much that is usual about this campaign.”

Warner said Kerry, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran, could be competitive in Virginia because it was home to thousands of veterans, and Kerry’s “war record is very powerful.”

In addition, Warner said, the state’s demographics were changing. The northern part of the state has become a technology hub, Democrats now fill the top two statewide offices, and “Sen. Kerry’s message of economic revival will do very well,” he said.

Kerry started his day with a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where he was joined by the family of William Floyd Bronson Jr., a Marine Corps corporal from Gardner, Mass., who died in 1976 of a grand mal seizure caused by head injuries suffered in combat in 1968.

Kerry had helped Bronson’s family get his name added to the more than 58,000 already inscribed on the monument. Bronson’s was one of 10 names of fighting men and women felled in Vietnam recently added to the wall; they were read aloud during a dedication ceremony Monday.

Kerry joined Barbara Bronson in placing a wreath beneath her son’s name, then bowed his head, crossed himself and hugged the grieving mother in the soft morning rain.

Not everyone was touched by Kerry’s trip to the memorial, which he has visited along with Memorial Day crowds and during more private moments. As he was leaving the wall Monday, an older woman angered by Kerry’s antiwar efforts in the 1970s accosted the Democrat.

“Are you paying tribute to all the people you spat on, Sen. Kerry?” she called as he walked away, seemingly oblivious.

While Kerry spent most of the day honoring those who died for their country, he also highlighted one man who did not. In a post-parade interview with WTKR, the CBS affiliate in Norfolk, Kerry obliquely criticized President Bush for avoiding combat, in answer to a question about how his war experience affected his approach to politics.

“For whatever reasons, the president didn’t learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam,” said Kerry, who was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with a V for valor and three Purple Hearts. “We’re going through great difficulties now, because this president rushed” when taking the nation to war in Iraq.

“I believe I can bring a leadership that knows how to bring the lessons of war and that knows how to protect our nation,” he said.