csua.org/u/lq4 -> www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/01/28/john-mccain-prisoner-of-war-a-first-person-account.html?PageNr=1
John S McCain Posted January 28, 2008 John McCain spent 5 years in captivity as a POW in North Vietnam. His first-person account of that harrowing ordeal was published in US News in May 1973.
John McCain lies in a hospital bed in Hanoi, North Vietnam, after being taken prisoner of war. John McCain lies in a hospital bed in Hanoi, North Vietnam, after being taken prisoner of war.
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 5 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 did the captured US airmen bear up under the mistreatment--and years spent in solitary? 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 5 years in the hands of the North Vietnamese. 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. 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. I did not feel any pain at the time, and was able to rise to the surface. 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 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. One of them slammed a rifle butt down on my shoulder, and smashed it pretty badly. John S McCain III, 37, is a 1958 graduate of the U S Naval Academy and a trained Navy pilot. His grandfather also was a four-star admiral, his great-uncle an Army general during World War I Lieut. During captivity his weight dropped as low as 100 pounds. He plans to stay in the Navy, has been assigned to attend the National War College this August.
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