John McCain Military Records Released
The Navy has released to the public the military records of John McCain. See photos and a video of McCain as well as read more about his military records below.
John McCain
The way a man conducts himself in times of trial are a measure of the man. The military records of John McCain were released to the public yesterday and reveal a great deal of the character of the man who will be our next President.
The AP is reporting.
McCain, now the Republican Party’s likely presidential nominee, was taken prisoner in October 1967 after he was shot down while on a mission over Hanoi. He wasn’t freed until March 1973, after the United States signed peace agreements with the North Vietnamese. His captors tortured him and held him in solitary confinement. Still, he declined an offer of early release until those who had been at the prison longer than him were let go.
That decision earned McCain a Navy Commendation Medal. Although McCain was ‘crippled from serious and ill-treated injuries,’ he steadfastly refused offers of freedom from those holding him prisoner. ‘His selfless action served as an example to others and his forthright refusal, by giving emphasis to the insidious nature of such releases, may have prevented a possibly chaotic deterioration in prisoner discipline,’ the citation says.
The Vietcong called John McCain ‘The Prince’ because his father was the Commander of the Navy at the time. They felt they had a real bargaining chip when they captured McCain. They offered him an early release in order to use his release to demoralize the other prisoners and to use it for propaganda. McCain new what they planned to do and therefore refused their offers.
Those that think its cool to vote for someone based on race and/or gender or think they want to make a statement by voting for someone based on race and/or gender, might consider voting for someone based on character and what is best for the country. If race and/or gender don’t or shouldn’t matter, then vote for the man who is a leader, who loves the country and who has proven himself in the field of battle.
I want a President who will lead us. I want a President who I know can stand the pressure and will do what he feels is best. I truly believe that nothing scares John McCain. How could it? He has faced the devil and looked him in the eye. He has done his time in hell. What could possibly scare him now? He is a man of character and a man who loves our country. THAT matters more … so much more … than whether he is male or female or what ethnic group he belongs to.
John McCain - Photos
John McCain - Video
May 9th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
John Kerry should take note. Even this Old Retired Petty Officer’s Service Record is obtainable by almost anyone.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Well - John Kerry SAID he was going to release his medical records back when he was running for President. He still hasn’t done it - neither has John Murtha.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:19 am
John Murtha and Lee Harvey Oswald wore the same uniforms? Both are traitors!
June 11th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
FACT SHEET: Military record of John Sidney McCain III
Both McCain III’s father and grandfather were Admirals in the United States Navy. His father Admiral John S. â€Junior†McCain was commander of U.S. forces in Europe - later commander of American forces in Vietnam while McCain III was being held prisoner of war. His grandfather John S. McCain, Sr. commanded naval aviation at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. McCain III, like his father and grandfather, also attended the United States Naval Academy. McCain III finished near the bottom of his graduating class in 1958.
McCain III lost five U.S. Navy aircraft
1 - Student pilot McCain III lost jet number one in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while practicing landings.
2 - Pilot McCain III lost another plane two years later while he was deployed in the Mediterranean. â€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.
3 - Pilot McCain III lost number three in 1965 when he was returning from flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. The plane crashed to the ground and McCain III floated to a deserted beach.
4 - Combat pilot McCain III lost his fourth on July 29, 1967, soon after he was assigned to the USS Forrestal as an A-4 Skyhawk combat pilot. He escaped from the burning
aircraft, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors, destroyed at least 20 aircraft, and threatened to sink the ship.
5 - Combat pilot McCain III lost a fifth plane three months later (Oct. 26, 1967) during his 23rd mission over North Vietnam when he failed to avoid a surface-to-air missile. McCain III ejected from the plane breaking both arms and a leg in the process and subsequently parachuted into Truc Bach Lake near Hanoi. After being pulled from the lake by the North Vietnamese, McCain III was bayoneted in his left foot and shoulder and struck by a rifle butt. He was then transported to the Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton.
1973 New York Daily News labeled POW McCain III a “PW Songbirdâ€
On McCain III’s fourth day of being denied medical treatment, slapped, and threatened with death by the communist (they were demanding military information in exchange for medical treatment), McCain III broke and told his interrogator, â€O.K., I’ll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital.†-U.S. News and World Report, May 14, 1973 article written by former POW John McCain. It was then that the communist learned that McCain III’s father was Admiral John S. McCain, the soon-to-be commander of all U.S. Forces in the Pacific. The Vietnamese rushed McCain III to Gai Lam military hospital (U.S. government documents), a medical facility normally unavailable for U.S. POWs. By Nov. 9, 1967 (U.S. government documents) Hanoi press was quoting McCain III describing his mission including the number of aircraft in his flight, information about rescue ships, and the order of which U.S. attacks would take place. Vietnamese doctors operated on McCain’s Leg in early December, 1967. Six weeks after he was shot down, McCain was taken from the hospital and delivered to a U.S. POW camp,
In May of 1968, McCain III allowed himself to be interviewed by two North Vietnamese generals at separate times.†-May 14, 1973 article written by former POW John McCain. On June 5, 1969, the New York Daily News reported in a article headlined Reds Say PW Songbird Is Pilot Son of Admiral, “ . . . Hanoi has aired a broadcast in which the pilot son of United States Commander in the Pacific, Adm. John McCain, purportedly admits to having bombed civilian targets in North Vietnam and praises medical treatment he has received since being taken prisoner . . .†The Washington Post explained McCain III’s broadcast: “The English- Language broadcast beamed at South Vietnam was one of a series using American prisoners. It was in response to a plea by Defense Secretary Melvin S. Laird, May 19, that North Vietnam treat prisoners according to the humanitarian standards set forth by the Geneva Convention. McCain III was released from North Vietnam March 15, 1973. In 1993, during one of his many trips back to Hanoi, McCain asked the Vietnamese not to make public any records they hold pertaining to returned U.S. POWs. McCain III claims, that while a POW, he tried to kill himself. McCain III was awarded “medals for valor†equal to nearly a medal-and-a-half for each hour he spent in combat. For 23 combat missions (an estimated 20 hours over enemy territory), the U.S. Navy awarded McCain III, the son of famous admirals, a Silver Star, a Legion of Merit for Valor, a Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars, two Commendation medals plus two Purple Hearts and a dozen service medals. “McCain had roughly 20 hours in combat,†explains Bill Bell, a veteran of Vietnam and former chief of the U.S. Office for POW/MIA Affairs — the first official U.S. representative in Vietnam since the 1973 fall of Saigon. “Since McCain got 28 medals,†Bell continued, “that equals to about a medal-and-a-half for each hour he spent in combat. There were infantry guys — grunts on the ground — who had more than 7,000 hours in combat and I can tell you that there were times and situations where I’m sure a prison cell would have looked pretty good to them by comparison. The question really is how many guys got that number of medals for not being shot down.†For years, McCain has been an unchecked master at manipulating an overly friendly and biased news media. The former POW turned Congressman, turned U.S. Senator, has managed to gloss over his failures as a pilot and his collaborations with the enemy to become America’s POW-hero presidential candidate.
For more information: http://www.againstmccain.com http://www.usveterandispatch.com
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
My question to the Editor is this. Why is it so important to speak of John McCain military record now and when he ran in 2000 not one american worry about his record then. He was much younger and I believe we would not be in the place we are in now. But, instead Republican put their arms around a dummy and let him lead us to this failing economy and a war or whatever they want to call it in Iraq and do not have a plan to get out. Come Conservative it is not about race nor gender. But, do not try to feed us his military record now but would not consider it when he ran against Bush who did not serve in a real war.
August 5th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Well written piece of half truths. I would say impressive but that would be less than a half truth, so keeping at a level of truth I’m guessing you won’t recognise, If it’s character that should be the determinator how about the character of a man that would use his father’s position as head of all navy operations in the Viet-Nam Conflict to gain for himself superior medical treatment than his fellow prisoners. How about the character of a man who would trade information for that medical treatment and even be refered to by the then New York Times as the Songbird of Hanoi. No wonder he asked the Viet-Namese to withhold information of his activities while in their captivity. Sen. McCain flew approximately 20 hours total over enemy territory and received nearly 1 1/2 medals for each hour flown. Now tell me daddy didn’t have something to do with that considering there were dozens of other prisoners in the Hanoi Hilton who received far less notoriety for far more suffering. By the way his wounds by his own admission in two interviews with French reporters were from his ejection from his plane after being shot down, not from torture as he claims. His torture, though real, was in being denied medical treatment until he cooperated, that is until they found out just how much of a prince he really was or was willing to be.
August 6th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
You make is sound as if the accident on the U.S.S. Forrestal was his fault. Again, a half truth. The fact is that he was simply sitting in his plane waiting his turn to take off when the accident happened. He had nothing to do with it. But the way you wrote this trash of a story, it was his fault all those sailors lost thier lives.
Very bad form…