John McCain, Prisoner of War: A First-Person Account

U.S.News & World Report ^ | January 28, 2008 | John S. McCain

[Berlin_Freeper]

The date was Oct. 26, 1967. I was on my 23rd mission, flying right over the heart of Hanoi in a dive at about 4,500 feet, when a Russian missile the size of a telephone pole came up—the sky was full of them—and blew the right wing off my Skyhawk dive bomber. It went into an inverted, almost straight-down spin.

I pulled the ejection handle, and was knocked unconscious by the force of the ejection—the air speed was about 500 knots. I didn't realize it at the moment, but I had broken my right leg around the knee, my right arm in three places, and my left arm. I regained consciousness just before I landed by parachute in a lake right in the corner of Hanoi, one they called the Western Lake. My helmet and my oxygen mask had been blown off.

I hit the water and sank to the bottom. I think the lake is about 15 feet deep, maybe 20. I kicked off the bottom. I did not feel any pain at the time, and was able to rise to the surface. I took a breath of air and started sinking again. Of course, I was wearing 50 pounds, at least, of equipment and gear. I went down and managed to kick up to the surface once more. I couldn't understand why I couldn't use my right leg or my arm. I was in a dazed condition. I went up to the top again and sank back down. This time I couldn't get back to the surface. I was wearing an inflatable life-preserver-type thing that looked like water wings. I reached down with my mouth and got the toggle between my teeth and inflated the preserver and finally floated to the top.

[Berlin_Freeper]

A little history lesson...

[FormerACLUmember]

A brave man. Doesn’t change his RINO status, hatred of free speech, and mental unfitness to be President.

[babygene]

“A little history lesson...”

I really want to know... How does this make him a hero?

[DuncanWaring]

John McCain suffered greatly in the service of his country.

I spent two days in the POW camp during SERE training ... I can’t begin to imagine spending years like that. Afterwards, I swore never to be taken alive.

That doesn’t mean, however, that he’s not crazy as a loon now.

[Sundog]

A little more history lesson.

John Sidney McCain III entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1954. Young McCain wanted to become an admiral. He planned to be the “first son and grandson of four star admirals” to achieve such a distinction. But that was not to be. McCain III possessed none of the innate character and discipline traits that helped mold his father and grandfather into great military leaders.

His father, John S. “Junior” McCain, and grandfather, John S. McCain, Sr., were famous four-star Admirals in the U.S. Navy. His father commanded U.S. forces in Europe before becoming commander of American forces fighting in Vietnam. His grandfather commanded naval aviation at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Both men became highly influential in U.S. Navy operations.

At the Academy, aside being known as a “rowdy, raunchy, underachiever” who resented authority, Cadet McCain became infamous as a leader among his fellow midshipmen for organizing “off-Yard activities” and hard drinking parties. Robert Timberg wrote in his book, The Nightingale’s Song, that “being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck.”

McCain’s grades were “marginal.” He drew so many demerits for breaking curfew and other discipline issues that he graduated fifth from the bottom of the class of 1958. Despite his low “class standing,” and no doubt because of the influence of his family of famous Admirals, McCain was leap-frogged ahead of more qualified applicants and granted a coveted slot to be trained as a navy pilot.

Good Party Animal - Bad Pilot:

He spent the next two and a half years as a “naval aviator in training” at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, flying A-1 Skyraiders.

While a pilot trainee, McCain continued to party hard. He drove a Corvette and dated an exotic dancer named “Marie the Flame of Florida.” Timberg wrote that McCain “learned to fly at Pensacola, though his performance was below par, at best good enough to get by. He liked flying, but didn’t love it.”

McCain Lost Five Military Aircraft

McCain, the “below par” pilot, eventually lost 5 military aircraft, the first during a training flight in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while trying to land. The Navy ignored the crash and graduated McCain in 1960.

While deployed in the Mediterranean, the hard partying McCain lost a second aircraft. Timberg described the crash: “Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral.”

Unscathed, McCain returned to Pensacola Station where he was promoted to flight instructor for Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi. The airfield at Meridian, McCain Field, was named in honor of McCain’s grandfather.

In 1964 McCain became involved with Carol Shepp, a model from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he had met at Annapolis. They were married in Philadelphia on July 3, 1965.

Flight instructor McCain lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. Timberg wrote that McCain radioed, “I’ve got a flameout” before ejecting at one thousand feet. McCain parachuted onto a beach moments before his plane slammed into a clump of trees.

The Navy dismissed the crash as “unavoidable” and assigned McCain to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in December 1966, which was patrolling the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. In Spring 1967, the Forrestal was assigned to join the Operation Rolling Thunder bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

McCain lost his fourth plane on board the Forrestal on July 29, 1967 when a rocket inadvertently slammed into his bomb laden jet. McCain escaped, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors. McCain was transferred from the badly damaged Forrestal to the USS Oriskany. Shortly afterwards, on Oct. 26, 1967, he was shot down and captured by the Vietnamese.

Post-POW Years: Political Ambition and a New, Young, Rich Wife

Upon his release from North Vietnam and return to the United States in 1973, McCain reunited with his wife, Carol, who had been permanently crippled in a car accident while he was a POW.

Still yearning to become an admiral, McCain enrolled in the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. and underwent physical therapy in order to fly again. The Navy excused his permanent disabilities and reinstated him to flight status, effectively positioning him for promotion.

Timberg described McCain’s advancement: “in the fall of 1974, McCain was transferred to Jacksonville as the executive officer of Replacement Air Group 174, the long-sought flying billet at last a reality. A few months later, he assumed command of the RAG, which trained pilots and crews for carrier deployments. The assignment was controversial, some calling it favoritism, a sop to the famous son of a famous father and grandfather, since he had not first commanded a squadron, the usual career path.”

While Executive Officer and later as Squadron Commander McCain used his authority to arrange frequent flights that allowed him to carouse with subordinates and “engage in extra-marital affairs.”

This was a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice rules against adultery and fraternization with subordinates. But, as with all his other past behaviors, McCain was never penalized; instead he always got away with his transgressions.

Timberg wrote, “Off duty, usually on routine cross-country flights to Yuma and El Centro, John started carousing and running around with women. To make matters worse, some of the women with whom he was linked by rumor were subordinates . . . At the time the rumors were so widespread that, true or not, they became part of McCain’s persona, impossible not to take note of.”

In early 1977, Admiral Jim Holloway, Chief of Naval Operations promoted McCain to captain and transferred him from his command position “to Washington as the number-two man in the Navy’s Senate liaison office. McCain was promptly given total control of the office. It wasn’t long before the “fun loving and irreverent” McCain had turned the liaison office into a “late-afternoon gathering spot where senators and staffers, usually from the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, would drop in for a drink and the chance to unwind.”

In 1979, while attending a military reception in Hawaii, McCain met and fell in love with Cindy Lou Hensley, 17 years his junior, who was the daughter of James W. Hensley, a wealthy Anheuser-Busch distributor from Phoenix, Arizona. McCain filed for and obtained an uncontested divorce from his wife in Florida on April 2, 1980 and promptly married Cindy on May 17, 1980.

He resigned from the Navy in 1981 and went to work for his father-in-law in Phoenix; where he used the opportunity to make powerful and wealthy friends in Arizona including banker Charles Keating and Duke Tully, the editor-in-chief of the Arizona Republic. Keating was later convicted of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy and Tully was disgraced for concocting a phony military record of combat in Korea and Vietnam including medals for heroism.

McCain ran for Arizona’s First Congressional District in 1982. McCain won the congressional seat. In 1987 McCain was elected to the US Senate.

[babygene]

“A brave man.”

I really want to know... How does this make him a brave man?

[rockabyebaby]

yes he’s a hero, just like gigilo was a “hero” doesn’t mean he should be President.

[A CA Guy]

Horrible he ever choose to go into politics at the country’s detriment.

[Norman Bates]

The McCain List.

[Non-Sequitur]

How does this make him a hero?

What qualifies one as a hero in your eyes? Just curious.

[cripplecreek]

I often wonder how different John McCain would have turned out if he had never been shot down or if he had been a grunt in the jungle.

[Non-Sequitur]

McCain Lost Five Military Aircraft

Two of them were blown out from underneath him. How was that his fault?

[restornu]

Also what about other who were POW and never got the blessings of America that McCain got over his years to be re elected because he was a POW even though he has stab American voters many times with his Manchurian votes!

[Red_Devil 232]

Unfortunate time in his life. Having survived being a POW made his career and he uses it every time he can to promote the myth that he was a hero.

[SE Mom]

Do you honestly think any reasonable person doesn’t respect McCain for his service in our military?

Do you believe his service makes him uniquely fit for the position he now seeks, over 40 years later?

[babygene]

“What qualifies one as a hero in your eyes? Just curious.”

Above and beyond the call of duty, risking your life and limb for your fellow human beings.

One should never be considered a hero for risks they took on their own behalf...

Hero, IMHO, has been watered down to the extent that it means nothing,

[awake-n-angry]

How does this make him a hero?
_________

Sorry, I’m not a McCainiac but what makes him a hero is putting on a uniform and volunteering to face enemy fire to protect me, you and this country.

McCain had enough political clout that he could have avoided Vietnam but he went and paid a high price. If you want to bash this man’s political stances- that’s one thing but if you want to question his heroism or love of country- we are going to have a problem.

[keepitreal]

“O.K., I’ll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital.”

John McCain

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

What qualifies one as a hero in your eyes? Just curious.

Of all of the definitions below, which does McInsane most closely resemble to you?

he·ro      /ˈhɪəroʊ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[heer-oh] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun, plural -roes; for 5 also -ros.

1.	a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

2.	a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.

3.	the principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.

4.

Classical Mythology.

a.	a being of godlike prowess and beneficence who often came to be honored as a divinity.

b.	(in the Homeric period) a warrior-chieftain of special strength, courage, or ability.

c.	(in later antiquity) an immortal being; demigod.

5.	hero sandwich.

6.	the bread or roll used in making a hero sandwich.

[babygene]

“Sorry, I’m not a McCainiac but what makes him a hero is putting on a uniform and volunteering to face enemy fire to protect me, you and this country.”

I was in the same navy, in the same war, in the same theater that he was. I did my job. Are you suggesting I’m a hero? I think not...

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Two of them were blown out from underneath him. How was that his fault?

The other three (a majority) were his fault.

[Jacquerie]

Slam all you wish.

Only a petty walter mitty type could criticize young McCain, combat naval aviator, and long term POW. He was a bigger man than anyone at this thread.

[Red_Devil 232]

Just wondering if you can name one other Vietnam Era POW? Just off the top of your head ... no google searches alowed!

[Harley]

He drove a Corvette and dated an exotic dancer named “Marie the Flame of Florida.” That was her stage name. Her real name.....Helen Thomas

[Harley]

He drove a Corvette and dated an exotic dancer named “Marie the Flame of Florida.” That was her stage name. Her real name.....Helen Thomas

[Gator113]

In those days in the jungle, I think I would have wanted him at my side. But today, I don’t want him at my back.

[RetiredArmy]

A brave man. Doesn’t change his RINO status, hatred of free speech, and mental unfitness to be President.

I fully agree. I fully believe that his time as a POW causes him to suffer from delayed stress syndrome and mental problems. I think it affected his mental being and he still suffers badly from it today. I knew another soldier who suffered badly like this, and he was also just like McCain. Same type of blow ups, going nuts, etc. Just like McCain does now.

[Jacquerie]

You either have him confused with Kerry, or you just hate him because of his liberal politics. McCain rarely brings up his war experiences.

[redgirlinabluestate]

Off Ann Coulter’s page
BEST QUOTE ON MCCAIN: -

“McCain seems to believe his wartime heroism entitles him to an unlimited moral bank account that he can withdraw from whenever it’s in his self-interest to do something dishonest.”

We've bowed at McCain's altar of heroism and offered him kudos time and again, but his heroism cannot be used as a shield against which he escapes responsibility for stabbing conservatives in the back repeatedly year after year.

[babygene]

I guess we put that “putting on a uniform” crap to bed, didn’t we?

[svcw]

All well and good but that does not make him fit to be president.

[Jacquerie]

“How does it make him a brave man”?

Forget the combat.

It is safe to assume that by merely asking the question, you would sh!t your pants if you launched at night off a small deck aircraft carrier in the 1960s.

[Gay State Conservative]

The most dangerous and difficult thing I endured while in uniform was army chow so I surely can't imagine what the Hanoi Hilton was like.I'll hazard a guess and say that it was very,*very* difficult.Nobody with a lick of sense and respect for this country can call McCain a coward during his military service.

But today he's a democrat.I don't vote for RATS....ever!!!!! It's just that simple.

[Mr Rogers]

I agree. I think hero is overused. Someone who volunteers for the military isn’t necessarily a hero. I did, and have spent 24 years in...been shot at badly by incompetents, but have probably come closer to being shot by drunk hunters than I have by enemy action.

If I had been hurt or captured, I hope I would behave well - but it would be a matter of being in the wrong place at a bad time, not heroism.

A hero takes a great risk knowingly for some cause. McCain didn’t join the Navy...I doubt he had much say in the decision. He performed badly before and after Vietnam, and his service in Vietnam is remarkable for having been a POW - but he didn’t volunteer for that!

I don’t DISrespect his service, but I sure don’t think it implies anything good about his future performance. It certainly doesn’t make him smarter than, say, GWB on the WOT!

[torchthemummy]

Well at least we now know what corner US News and World Report is in.

Not to mention how McCain, in defending John Kerry in 2004, stated that he believes it better to shy away from touting ones time in service. And yet here on a huge primary that will set the tone for Super Tuesday we see McCain, with the open arms of US News and World Report, touting his short military experience and long suffering capture.

[353FMG]

Why do we have to hear time and time again that he was a hero? It is getting old. He is but one of many and certainly not better than those who sacrificed their lives for this country.

Men and women of his caliber are right now fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and are not getting the attention that McCain demands. Hey John, go home and give yourself a rest for your remaining days. You are not wanted and certainly not needed.

[DuncanWaring]

Other Vietnam Era POWs? Off the top of my head, Adm. Stockdale, Lt. Alvarez, Capt. Lance Sijan, Capt. Roger Donlon, Capt. Rocky Versace, Col. Ted Guy and Col. Bud Day (the last two I’m not sure of the rank on).

[B4Ranch]

What is he hiding from us? You get him to tell us and I might vote for him.

The War Secrets Sen. John McCain Hides

But there was one subject that was off-limits, a subject the Arizona senator almost never brings up and has never been open about -- his long-time opposition to releasing documents and information about American prisoners of war in Vietnam and the missing in action who have still not been accounted for. Since McCain himself, a downed Navy pilot, was a prisoner in Hanoi for 5 1/2 years, his staunch resistance to laying open the POW/MIA records has baffled colleagues and others who have followed his career. Critics say his anti-disclosure campaign, in close cooperation with the Pentagon and the intelligence community, has been successful. Literally thousands of documents that would otherwise have been declassified long ago have been legislated into secrecy.

Also see:

Vietnam Veterans Against John

[babygene]

“It is safe to assume that by merely asking the question, you would sh!t your pants if you launched at night off a small deck aircraft carrier in the 1960s.”

I was there in the sixties... On the USS Valley Forge

[DuncanWaring]

That may very well be.

Doesn’t make him qualified to be President, though.

[Jacquerie]

He never refers to himself as a hero. Only little people who cannot disconnect his service from his unsuitability to be President do so.

[keepitreal]

I have been reading the Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain site. It is quite interesting. The transcripts of the radio interviews he gave while a POW are very telling.

[tpanther]

bingo...and with the other thread floating around about head injuries and the repercussions, it may well disqualify him!

[Polybius]

I really want to know... How does this make him a brave man?

McCain was offered early release by the North Vietnamese and he refused, spending four more years in hell, so his release would not be used for propaganda.

When brought before TV cameras during a POW "Christmas celebration", McCain cursed at the North Vietnamese on camera so the footage would be ruined for propaganda purposes and, as he fully expected, got the crap beat out of him afterwards.

Mc Cain suffered horrible additional tortures rather than sign propaganda confessions.

Please tell us, babygene, what you have done in your life that is in the same ball park in the Bravery Department.

If offered your freedom or four years of hell, what would your choice be, babygene?

Tell us.

You've been there, right?

YOU know what real bravery is, right?

YOU can judge McCain as someone not deserving to be called brave because YOU have been there and done that, right?

Teach us what REAL bravery is, babygene.

We really want to know.

[SE Mom]

I wouldn’t vote for McCain under any circumstances.

[Jacquerie]

I voted for Romney this morning. I wouldn’t for McCain to be my local county commissioner. It does not take away from his bravery 40 years ago.

[Sybeck1]

He still didn’t earn the right to be leader of the Free World.

[BamaDi]

I sure can - Ken Cordier, Bud Day....both two people I personally know - both i’m proud of.....

[BallyBill]

He’ll always be a hero to me.

[Red_Devil 232]

I don’t like McCain. If the MSM did not bring up his “Heroic POW” status all the time I am sure McCain would be reminding us about it! Check my Tag Line! VMFA-232 - F4-J Phantoms - Red Devils.