POW
Democrats have decided in their infinite wisdom that John McCain should not speak of his 5 1/2 years in captivity as a POW. It's as if they believe they have a right to decide when a man can talk about his own life. But it is his life -- and it is not their right to decide.
Now some of John McCain's fellow POWS are speaking out on his behalf. Here is a video report about one of the men who went through the nightmare of captivity alongside John McCain - literally. Col. Orson Swindle shared a cell with McCain for 18 months. In this interview, he speaks of the toughness of John McCain and why he believes McCain must be elected the next President . . .(Click Read More to see the video - video will begin automatically) read more »
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Counterpunch and Huffington Post both published smear pieces this week on McCain's military service. Specifically, they accused him of being an enemy collaborator and getting soft treatment as a POW.
For more on the filth at Counterpunch, click here
For more on the filth at Huffington Post, click here
Spread the word about these baseless, unwarranted and sleazy attacks on John McCain. This must be confronted early and often. If this escalates into full blown TV ads (which Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain threatens to do), we could have a repeat of 2004. We need to ask John Kerry AND Obama to repudiate and condemn these attacks from the lunatic fringe.
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Thirty-Five years ago, John McCain was released from a Vietnam prisoner camp. He was captured and held captive in the "Hanoi Hilton" after he was shot down flying for the Navy in 1967. This video featuring Orson Swindle, McCain's mom, and others, looks back at the time.
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Here is Part 5 of our series, The POW Years: John McCain in His Own Words. John McCain wrote a 17 page spread for U.S. News and World Report soon after his return from captivity in Vietnam. It was printed in U.S. News in May 1973. You can go there and read the entire feature. This is John McCain's account of those terrible years in his own words.
Part 2 - "It Looked to Many as if I Had Been Drugged"
Part 3 - "Communication Was Vital "for Survivial"
Part 4 - They Told Me I'd Never Go Home"
PART 5
Prayer: "I Was Sustained in Times of Trial"
I was finding that prayer helped. It wasn't a question of asking for superhuman strength or for God to strike the North Vietnamese dead. It was asking for moral and physical courage, for guidance and wisdom to do the right thing. I asked for comfort when I was in pain, and sometimes I received relief. I was sustained in many times of trial.
When the pressure was on, you seemed to go one way or the other. Either it was easier for them to break you the next time, or it was harder. In other words, if you are going to make it, you get tougher as time goes by. Part of it is just a transition from our way of life to that way of life. But you get to hate them so bad that it gives you strength.
Now I don't hate them any more—not these particular guys. I hate and detest the leaders. Some guards would just come in and do their job. When they were told to beat you they would come in and do it. Some seemed to get a big bang out of it. A lot of them were homosexual, although never toward us. Some, who were pretty damned sadistic, seemed to get a big thrill out of the beatings. read more »
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Heroic Texas Congressman Sam Johnson has endorsed John McCain for President. Johnson, who served as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam, like McCain, called McCain a "stand-up American who will boldly lead our country forward." Here is the press release issued by the McCain campaign:
ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today announced that Texas Congressman and former Vietnam War POW, Sam Johnson, has endorsed John McCain for president.
"John's legacy of service, his love for America, his reputation as a reformer, and his hope for a better tomorrow clearly set him head and shoulders above the Democrats running for president," said Congressman Johnson. "John's beliefs are the cornerstones of all that make America great -- freedom and free-enterprise. He's a stand-up American who will boldly lead our country forward. I am proud to endorse him for president."
John McCain thanked Congressman Johnson, saying, "I have the utmost respect for Sam's courageous service to our great nation. He was brutally tested and stood strong, serving as an inspiration to those of us held captive in Hanoi. I am proud to count him as a friend and humbled to have his support."
Congressman Johnson represents Texas' 3rd District. He serves on the Ways and Means Committee and is the Ranking Member on the Social Security Subcommittee. He returned home to Texas after serving in the U.S. Air Force for 29-years. He flew combat missions in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was a Prisoner of War in Hanoi for nearly seven years. He is a decorated combat veteran and has been awarded two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, one Bronze Star with Valor, two Purple Hearts, four Air Medals, and three Outstanding Unit Awards.
After his distinguished military career, Congressman Johnson started a home-building business and served in the Texas legislature before being elected to the United States House of Representatives. He grew up in Dallas and graduated from SMU. Congressman Johnson and his wife Shirley are proud parents of three children and grandparents to ten.
Here are some remarks about his captivity in Vietnam that Rep. Sam Johnson shared in a speech several years ago. Among other things, he talks about his experience of spending 72 days in leg stocks:
Let me just tell you a couple of stories that happened to me while I was a POW because I think they are insightful.
One, when I was first shot down, I landed right in the middle of a whole division of North Vietnamese troops. My back-seater and I both got out and we were captured immediately. read more »
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Here is a very moving conversation between the most militarily decorated living American, Bud Day, and Tom Brokaw. Bud Day is a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, including being a POW in Vietnam, where he was a cellmate of Sen. John McCain. Day talks about honor, service, and gives some insight into those terrible days as a POW. This video ran on NBC in November 2007.
Note: He begins talking about his time as a POW at around the 7:12 mark of the video.
Here is Part 3 of our series, The POW Years: John McCain in His Own Words. John McCain wrote a 17 page spread for U.S. News and World Report soon after his return from captivity in Vietnam. It was printed in U.S. News in May 1973. You can go there and read the entire feature. This is John McCain's account of those terrible years in his own words.
Part 2 - "It Looked to Many as if I Had Been Drugged"
Communication Was Vital "for Survival"
As far as this business of solitary confinement goes—the most important thing for survival is communication with someone, even if it's only a wave or a wink, a tap on the wall, or to have a guy put his thumb up. It makes all the difference.
It's vital to keep your mind occupied, and we all worked on that. Some guys were interested in mathematics, so they worked out complex formulas in their heads—we were never allowed to have writing materials. Others would build a whole house, from basement on up. I have more of a philosophical bent. I had read a lot of history. I spent days on end going back over those history books in my mind, figuring out where this country or that country went wrong, what the U. S. should do in the area of foreign affairs. I thought a lot about the meaning of life.
It was easy to lapse into fantasies. I used to write books and plays in my mind, but I doubt that any of them would have been above the level of the cheapest dime novel. read more »
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Here is Part 2 of our series, The POW Years: John McCain in His Own Words. John McCain wrote a 17 page spread for U.S. News and World Report soon after his return from captivity in Vietnam. It was printed in U.S. News in May 1973. You can go there and read the entire feature. This is John McCain's account of those terrible years in his own words.
Part 2 - "It Looked to Many as if I Had Been Drugged"
They told me that the Frenchman would visit me that evening. About noon, I was put in a rolling stretcher and taken to a treatment room where they tried to put a cast on my right arm. They had great difficulty putting the bones together, because my arm was broken in three places and there were two floating bones. I watched the guy try to manipulate it for about an hour and a half trying to get all the bones lined up. This was without benefit of Novocain. It was an extremely painful experience, and I passed out a number of times. He finally just gave up and slapped a chest cast on me. This experience was very fatiguing, and was the reason why later, when some TV film was taken, it looked to many people as if I had been drugged.
When this was over, they took me into a big room with a nice white bed. I thought, "Boy, things are really looking up." My guard said, "Now you're going to be in your new room."
About an hour later in came a guy called "The Cat." I found out later that he was the man who up until late 1969 was in charge of all the POW camps in Hanoi. He was a rather dapper sort, one of the petty intelligentsia that run North Vietnam. He was from the political bureau of the Vietnamese Workers Party. read more »
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One of the major purposes of starting Blogs for John McCain is to provide information to voters that will help them to understand more about John McCain, his experience, his stand on issues, and what qualifies him to be President of the United States.
In my mind, a key aspect of McCain's life is his 5 1/2 years as a Prisoner of War in Vietnam. Too often today, people dismiss those years as "having nothing to do with being President." I beg to differ. They are correct that a candidate does not have to have been a POW to be qualified for the Presidency! John McCain never planned on being a POW. But his years as a POW, how he acted in that incredible pressure cooker of brutality, stress, deprivation and loneliness, tells us a great deal about the character, honor, strength, and courage of John McCain. It is unlikely he will ever face anything as President any more difficult or stressful than his experience as a POW.
McCain's likely Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is a completely blank slate as far as us knowing how he will stand up to the pressure and stress of the Presidency. There is no record of him ever being tested in significant ways that reveal his courage, honor, and character. I'm not saying does not possess those qualities, but I am saying we really do not know what Barack Obama will do as Commander-in-Chief under fire. We have a really good idea of John McCain under fire.
With that said, we begin a series that focuses on The POW Years: John McCain in His Own Words. John McCain wrote a 17 page spread for U.S. News and World Report soon after his return from captivity in Vietnam. It was printed in U.S. News in May 1973. You can go there and read the entire thing. In a series of posts over the next few days, we will post portions of his account of those years here. We begin with "Shot Down." This is John McCain's account of those terrible years in his own words.
"Shot Down"
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. read more »
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