by Jill Zuckman, and updated
Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of the day Sen. John McCain was shot down over Hanoi and imprisoned for five-and-a-half long years, a biography that has helped propel both of his campaigns for president.
It is a powerful story, and one he has used to underscore his knowledge of the military and foreign affairs. But it’s not something he dwells on personally.
During a conversation this week, I asked him if he knew what day Friday was and McCain said he did not. Asked if he was going to do anything special to mark the day, McCain said “no, no, no.”
Turns out, his campaign has arranged for him to revisit the occasion with Bud Day, the retired Marine colonel and Medal of Honor winner who was McCain’s first roommate in prison. They will be in Sioux City Friday morning, and Day will travel with McCain throughout the day to Sheldon and Rock Rapids.
McCain said he does not spend much time thinking about what happened that day. He was shot down, breaking his right knee and both his arms while ejecting from his A-4E Skyhawk, before crashing into a lake in the center of Hanoi during broad daylight.
“I kind of think about it when I’m reminded about it,’’ he said. “I remember the Forrestal fire more because it was such a horrendous tragedy.”
On July 29, 1967, McCain was getting ready to fly another combat mission off the deck of the U.S.S. Forrestal when a nearby plane accidentally set off its Zuni rocket, firing straight into McCain’s fuel tank. The subsequent explosion and fire took the lives of 134 men. McCain managed to escape out of the cockpit of his jet, jumping into the fire and rolling through a wall of flames to get away.
But even if McCain is not personally ruminating on the event that led to his captivity 40 years ago, his campaign would be happy to have voters learn more about it.
His campaign has created television ads showing McCain lying in a North Vietnamese hospital, giving his name, rank and serial number. And a new ad set to begin running today in New Hampshire shows McCain indirectly referencing his time in prison while disparaging Sen. Hillary Clinton’s now defunct plan to give $1 million in federal funds for a museum in Bethel, N.Y., the site of Woodstock festival.
“I'm sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event," he says during the last Republican debate as video of the crowd dancing at the music festival is shown. The ad then shifts to old footage of McCain strapped to a bed as he says, “I was tied up at the time.”
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Comments
John, if you only could of spent 3 months in Nam, while driving a boat to places you never were and awarded yourself 4 medals for band-aid wounds...the looney left vote would be yours.
But Nooooo.....you had to go get shot down piloting
an A-4E Skyhawk and get captured.
No wonder John Kerry(D) is the lefties Viet Nam hero.
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | October 25, 2007 11:03 AM
Paulo:
How does someone award themselves 4 medals? All the awards were given by the Army after investigation of the circumstances. Even the Defense Department said in 2004 that he deserved the medals.
You obviously are among the idiots who wore band-aids with purple hearts on them at the GOP Convention in 2004, most of whom never got near a battlefield in their lives.
And Senator McCain was clearly embarrased by the little show put on by your friends in New York in 2004.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 25, 2007 11:49 AM
I may not have been in the military and I may not have been trained as a pilot but I'm pretty sure you are supposed to avoid enemy surface-to-air missiles.
Posted by: Grandpa Sam | October 25, 2007 11:51 AM
What's really a shame is the Senator Mccain can't raise his arms over his head otherwise he, like the Great American solider Senator Kerry, probably would have tossed the medals onto the White House lawn.
Grandpa Sam - easier said than done. Do you think if those missles had a 100% failure rate that the VietCong would have used them?
Posted by: Terry | October 25, 2007 12:06 PM
"All the awards were given by the Army..."
Nice try, the Army doesn't approve awards for Navy personnel.
Must be PTSD from all the battles YOU were in?
Posted by: military spouse | October 25, 2007 12:08 PM
Paulo,
The United States Military allows you to award medals to yourself? Please explain? Should I look suspiciously at everyone who claims to have earned a combat medal??? I didn't know the United States Military handed out medals for dubious reasons.
Posted by: jethro | October 25, 2007 12:22 PM
Not sure Terry. My point is that if I think military experience is important in a candidate, I'm voting for the man or woman who didn't get shot down and captured by the enemy.
Posted by: Grandpa Sam | October 25, 2007 12:37 PM
Had a Democratic war hero like John Kerry been held in captivity by the enemy, how many times do you think the Republicans and their media would have talked about the Manchurian Candidate? Just curious.
Posted by: Paul | October 25, 2007 12:50 PM
"My point is that if I think military experience is important in a candidate, I'm voting for the man or woman who didn't get shot down and captured by the enemy."
Spoken like a true patriot.
So anyone that's 'incompetent' enough to get himself shot down disqualifies him?
How about military personnel that ‘screw up’ and get wounded?
I guess Lt. Michael Murphy, a Navy SEAL that died trying to save his men and was awarded the Medal of Honor is just another f**k-up to you.
Posted by: militayr spouse | October 25, 2007 12:56 PM
Spouse:
Change Army to Navy in my post - does that change anything??
How long has your spouse been in the military?
Posted by: BobinATL | October 25, 2007 12:58 PM
"Change Army to Navy in my post - does that change anything??"
Only to people that know the difference between the Army and the Navy.
My husband has been in the service 17 years. Why?
Posted by: military spouse | October 25, 2007 1:09 PM
Grandpa Sam is pathetic. John McCain gave up 5.5 years of his life for this country. Most people like yourself have never done anything for anyone but themsleves. We would not expect someone like you to understand the respect that McCain deserves for his service to Your country. As a former Marine in the late 90's I find it funny when people knock soldiers while not knowing anything about what they go thru.
Posted by: Vinny | October 25, 2007 1:29 PM
[quote]
John McCain gave up 5.5 years of his life for this country. Most people like yourself have never done anything for anyone but themselves.
Posted by: Vinny | October 25, 2007 1:29 PM
[/quote]
Vinny, your comment describes Dubya to a "T".
Posted by: BC | October 25, 2007 1:50 PM
Granpa Sam,
Then what do you think of John Kerry who got wounded by the enemy 3 times? IS he qualified for office?
Posted by: Terry | October 25, 2007 1:53 PM
Vinny,
You're right McCain does deserve respect for serving our country. He does NOT however deserve to be President because he was a POW.
Posted by: Grandpa Sam | October 25, 2007 1:57 PM
Terry,glad you finally admit Kerry was a true Vietnam war hero.
By the way,where was Bush and little dick during Vietnam??????
Posted by: Raving Loon | October 25, 2007 3:34 PM
McCain was bombing civilians near Hanoi when he was shot down.
Rather than a hero, he's fortunate his captors let him live.
Imagine, were it possible, the fate of a Vietnamese pilot shot down doing the same thing in San Diego? He would have been lynched and torn apart.
Posted by: John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada | October 25, 2007 4:34 PM
Crazy Duck,
Kerry did his few months. I wouldn't call him a hero.
Grandpa,
If you plan on voting democratic then it's a good thing you aren't looking for military experience for the president - that thins out the dems field pretty quick.
John,
I'm not sure how the Candaians treat prisoners of war in military uniform, but the US military treats them much different - in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
Posted by: Terry | October 25, 2007 5:07 PM
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Posted by: John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada | October 25, 2007 4:34 PM
So, Chuckles,
Do you line up with your droogies and spit on Canadian soldiers returning from Afghanistan? Just imagine all the atrocities they committed shooting at Afghans in Afghanistan. It's amazing the Afghanis let them live.
Or maybe you're not brave enough to confront combat soldiers. Maybe you just sneak up, ring their doorbells and run away - that is, after you have bowed down and worshipped the communist flag you have tacked up on your wall. Eh?
Posted by: John W. | October 25, 2007 6:06 PM
If McCain had so reverently remembered the tragic Forrestal event - why didn't he attend the 40th anniversary ceremony?
I AM in the Navy and have seen the Navy's footage of the Forrestal.
I'm ashamed of having him in MY Navy. Credit goes to his father and grandfather - ONLY.
Posted by: Adrien | May 13, 2008 3:24 PM