WASHINGTON, Aug 29: President George W. Bush called his Democratic rival John Kerry's war-time service in Vietnam "more heroic" than his time in the Texas Air National Guard , in an interview broadcast Sunday on NBC television.

"I think his going to Vietnam was more heroic than my flying fighter jets. He was in harm's way, I wasn't," Bush said on the eve of his Republican party's convention in New York.

"On the other hand, I served my country. Had my unit been called up, I would have gone." Both candidates have faced scrutiny over their military records in Vietnam. Bush has faced questions over whether he regularly reported for duty when he was a member of the Texas Air National Guard, from 1968 to 1973. He was honourably discharged in 1973.

Kerry has been accused of distorting his record in Vietnam, where he was wounded three times and awarded the Silver and Bronze Stars for valour. -AFP