FACT SHEET on Candidate John Sidney McCain, III

Written by: Martha Miller on Jul 8, 2008 9:42 PM EDT

FACT SHEET on PEPUBLICAN Presidential Candidate John Sidney McCain, III:

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/mccain_post_card_word%5B1%5D.pdf

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com

MILITARY RECORD of John Sidney McCain, III

Both John Sidney McCain, III's father and grandfather were Admirals in the United States Navy.   McCain, III's father, Admiral John S. McCain, Jr. ("Junior") was Commander of the United States Forces in Europe --- and later, Commander of American Forces in Vietnam, while McCain, III was being held prisoner of war in Vietnam.  McCain, III's grandfather, Admiral John S. McCain, Sr., was Commander of Naval Aviation at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945.  Both McCain's father and grandfather attended the United States Naval Academy; hence, in 1958 McCain, III also attended the U.S. Naval Academy finishing near the bottom of his graduating class.

John S. McCain, III loses 5 U. S. Naval Aircraft

In 1958, U. S. Navy aircraft student-pilot John McCain, III loses U.S. Navy Jet#1 when he plunged the Navy's airplane he was flying into Corpus Christi Bay during landing practice.

In 1960, two years later, Pilot John McCain, III after deployment to the Mediterranean loses U. S. Navy Jet#2.  McCain, while flying his Navy jet plane too low over the Iberian Peninsula, took out some power lines and totally lost another Navy airplane, which led to a spate of newspaper stories causing John McCain, III to be identified as the "son of an admiral". 
 
In 1965, Pilot John McCain, III loses U. S. Navy Jet#3 while returning from a Navy trainer solo flight to Philadelphia, PA for an Army-Navy football game.   McCain, III ejected the Navy jet plane after he radioed, "I've got a flame-out"; the airplane crashed to the ground and was lost.   John McCain, III floated to a deserted beach.

July 29, 1967, now Combat Pilot John McCain, III loses U. S. Navy Jet#4 account an inadvertently fired rocket.   John McCain, III was assigned to the USS Forrestal as an A-4 Sky Hawk combat pilot; soon after his assignment while waiting his turn for takeoff, a rocket slammed into McCain, Jr.'s airplane.  McCain escaped from the burning airplane, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors, destroyed at least 20 aircraft and threatened to sink the ship.  

October 26, 1967, three months later, Combat Pilot John McCain, III loses U. S. Navy Jet#5 after being struck by a North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile during his 23rd mission flight over North Vietnam.   McCain, III ejected his jet's parachute breaking both of his arms and one of his legs, and subsequently landed in Truc Bach Lake near Hanoi.  The North Vietnamese pulled McCain, III from the lake, bayonetted him in his left foot and shoulder, struck him with a rifle butt, and transported him to the Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton.

The 1973 New York Daily News Labeled POW John McCain a "PW Songbird"

After four days of being denied medical treatment, slapped and threatened with death by the North Vietnamese communists who were demanding military information in exchange for medical treatment, POW John McCain, III broke and told his interrogator, "OK, 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 at this time the North Vietnamese communists learned that POW McCain's father was Admiral John S. McCain, the soon-to-be commander of all U.S. Forces in the Pacific.  According to U.S. Government documents, after learning this information, the North Vietnamese rushed POW John McCain, III to Gai Lam Military Hospital, a medical facility that was normally unavailable to United States "prisoners of war". 

By November 9, 1967, according to U.S. Government documents, the North Vietnamese Hanoi Press was quoting POW John McCain describing his mission, to include the number of aircraft in his flight, information about rescue ships and the order in which the United States' attacks would take place; so, in early December 1967, North Vietnamese doctors operated on POW John McCain's leg.

Also, while POW John McCain was still in North Vietnam's Military Hospital recuperating from his collateral damage caused by the fractures, stabs, contusions and abrasions, POW John McCain gave an interview to the prominent French television reporter Francois Chalais for a television series titled, "Life in Hanoi", which Chalais aired on televisions all over Europe.

Six weeks after POW John McCain's Navy jet was shot down, POW McCain was taken from the North Vietnam Military Hospital and delivered to a United States POW camp, where in May 1968, POW McCain allowed himself to be interviewed twice at separate times by two North Vietnamese generals.   --- May 14, 1973 article written by former POW John McCain.   Other United States POW's were not aware of John McCain being taken prisoner until August 1968, at which time the other POW's learned for the first time that John McCain, III, the "son of the Navy general" had been taken prisoner.

On June 5, 1969, the headlines reported in the  New York Daily News was, "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."

In 1970 POW McCain agreed to another interview, this time with Dr. Fernando Barral, a Spanish psychiatrist who was living in Cuba at the time, which Dr. Barral published directly in January 1970.  According to a declassified government document, the meeting between Barral and POW McCain, photographed by the North Vietnamese, took place away from the prison, at the Office of the Committee for Foreign Cultural Relations in Hanoi.  During the meeting, POW McCain sipped coffee and ate oranges and cakes with the Cuban; and while talking with Barral, POW  McCain further seriously violated the Military Code of Conduct by failing to evade answering questions "to the utmost of his ability"when POW McCain, according to government documents, helped Barral by answering questions in Spanish, a language McCain, III had learned in school.

March 15, 1973 McCain, III Released By North Vietnam

In 1993, during one of John McCain, III's many trips back to Hanoi since March 15, 1973, McCain asked the North Vietnamese NOT to make public any records that the North Vietnamese hold pertaining to returned United States Prisoners Of War, as John McCain, III claims that while a POW, he tried to kill himself.

McCain, III, Son of 2 Famous Admirals Receives 28 Military Awards of Valor

POW John McCain, III was awarded "Medals For Valor" equal to nearly one and one-half medals for each hour spent in combat.  For 23 combat missions, an estimated 20 hours over enemy territory, the United States Navy awarded McCain, III, the son and grandson of two famous admirals the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit for Valor, the Distinguished Flying Cross, 3 Bronze Stars, 2 Commendation Medals, 12 Service Medals, 2 Purple Hearts, and 6 more medals according to the following statement.

Bill Bell who is a veteran of the Vietnam War, a former Chief of the United States Office for POW/MIA Affairs, and the first Official United States Representative in Vietnam since the 1973 fall of Saigon explains, "McCain had roughly 20 hours in combat."  And, Bell continues, "Since McCain got 28 medals, 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, John S. McCain, III, former North Vietnamese POW "Songbird" turned Congressman, turned U.S. Senator, and now turned Presidential Candidate has sang for the GOP who has glossed over the facts of their singer's low grades as a student, failure as a pilot, and  collaborations with the enemy.   Contrary to the GOP's media, John McCain, III is NO HERO, but a SONGBIRD.    McCain, III has taken full advantage of the military prestige of his father and grandfather, which in no way makes McCain,III presidential any more than George W. Bush has been presidential, only another puppet for GOP control.

FACT SHEET information acquired from the following url:

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/mccain_post_card_word%5B1%5D.pdf

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com

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