the truth always hurts... somebody.
On Oct 5, 7:16 pm, The Nice Mean Man <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Nor do they care........
>
> John McCain, Prisoner of War: A First-Person Account
> By John S. McCain III, Lieut. Commander, U.S. Navy
> By John S. McCain
> Posted January 28, 2008
> John McCain spent 5½ years in captivity as a POW in North Vietnam. His
> first-person account of that harrowing ordeal was published in U.S.
> News in May 1973. Shot down in his Skyhawk dive bomber on Oct. 26,
> 1967, Navy flier McCain was taken prisoner with fractures in his right
> leg and both arms. He received minimal care and was kept in wretched
> conditions that he describes vividly in the U.S. News special report:
> This story originally appeared in the May 14, 1973, issue of U.S.News
> & World Report. It was posted online on January 28, 2008.
> Of the many personal accounts coming to light about the almost
> unbelievably cruel treatment accorded American prisoners of war in
> Vietnam, none is more dramatic than that of Lieut. Commander John S.
> McCain III—Navy flier, son of the admiral who commanded the war in the
> Pacific, and a prisoner who came in "for special attention" during 5½
> years of captivity in North Vietnam.
> Now that all acknowledged prisoners are back and a self-imposed seal
> of silence is off, Commander McCain is free to answer the questions
> many Americans have asked:
> What was it really like? How prolonged were the tortures and
> brutality? How did the captured U.S. airmen bear up under the
> mistreatment—and years spent in solitary? How did they preserve their
> sanity? Did visiting "peace groups" really add to their troubles? How
> can this country's military men be conditioned to face such treatment
> in the future without crumbling?
> Here, in his own words, based on almost total recall, is Commander
> McCain's narrative of 5½ years in the hands of the North Vietnamese.
> 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.
> Some North Vietnamese swam out and pulled me to the side of the lake
> and immediately started stripping me, which is their standard
> procedure. Of course, this being in the center of town, a huge crowd
> of people gathered, and they were all hollering and screaming and
> cursing and spitting and kicking at me.
> When they had most of my clothes off, I felt a twinge in my right
> knee. I sat up and looked at it, and my right foot was resting next to
> my left knee, just in a 90-degree position. I said, "My God--my leg!"
> That seemed to enrage them —I don't know why. One of them slammed a
> rifle butt down on my shoulder, and smashed it pretty badly. Another
> stuck a bayonet in my foot. The mob was really getting up-tight.
> John S. McCain III, 37, is a 1958 graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy
> and a trained Navy pilot. His father, Adm. John S. McCain, Jr., was
> commander in chief of all U. S. forces in the Pacific during the
> Vietnam war. His grandfather also was a four-star admiral, his great-
> uncle an Army general during World War I. Lieut. Commander McCain is
> married, with three children. Their permanent home is in Orange Park,
> Fla. During captivity his weight dropped as low as 100 pounds. He
> still walks with a limp from his injuries. He plans to stay in the
> Navy, has been assigned to attend the National War College this
> August.http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/01/28/john-mccain-prisoner-o...
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