AUBURN – A former Navy commander who served with presidential candidate John Kerry in Vietnam told veterans gathered here Thursday that Kerry “was magnificent in combat,” and he criticized the people behind the Swift boat attack ads.

Wade Sanders, who is also a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, came from California to speak about his wartime experiences with Kerry to area veterans at American Legion Post 153.

Sanders recalled clear, crisp Vietnam mornings pierced by the roar of the engines as his and Kerry’s Navy boats left the base for patrol.

“There would be Kerry, throwing eggs at me, or shooting his flare gun at me. I got my flare gun and we had flare gun fights and egg fights and balloon fights,” Sanders said. They were 23- and 24-year-olds enjoying light moments in a war full of darkness.

At night, before battle, Kerry walked among his crew members “and laid his hand on their shoulders to calm them, to assure he was with them,” Sanders said, adding Kerry did what the military taught: “In combat, you take care of your men.”

During missions, Kerry coolly directed fire, Sanders said. He was aggressive, charging the enemy, “taking those 250-caliber machine guns and bringing them to bear” in a way that “turned aside enemy attacks and made them get up and run,” Sanders said. “We had never seen that before.”

Kerry and others had horrible decisions to make about who was going to live and who was going to die, Sanders said. The gift from that experience, he said, is an understanding of what war is like and the value of human life.

That’s missing, he complained, from President Bush and members of his administration, whom Sanders called “chicken hawks.” The president “doesn’t have a clue,” he said.

Sanders said that when he saw the Swift boat ads against Kerry, “You can imagine the anger, and hurt and sadness I felt,” he said. The ads attack Kerry’s military record and raise questions of the seriousness of Kerry’s injuries, and how deserving was he was of his medals.

Sanders has been friends with Kerry since the two met in a Navy destroyer squadron in 1966. He’s one of the “Band of Brothers” traveling the country to talk about their experience with Kerry in Vietnam and after.

Some of those involved in what Sanders called the “Swift boat Veterans for Bush” are the same ones who recommended Kerry for some of the highest medals a soldier can earn in combat, Sanders said. “My question to them is, Were you lying then or are you lying now?'”

He warned veterans that the tone of the campaign will get worse as Nov. 2 nears. “These people have hired former FBI agents to investigate us, to look into the people standing up for John Kerry. … That’s how low George Bush will go. What you have here is a president in desperation.”

After Sanders spoke, a few veterans offered comments.

When anyone insults any veteran for awards that individual won, “They insult every veteran in this room for any ribbons I’m wearing or anybody else,” said Army veteran Robert Shaw. Veterans around Shaw applauded.

Bob Gelinas of Lewiston also rose and announced that he is a World War II veteran, the father of a Vietnam veteran, and the grandfather of an Iraqi war veteran. He said he didn’t know if that qualified him for anything, “but I can make this judgment: George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld are not worthy of scraping the mud off John Kerry’s boots.”