I'd a lot of people are speaking from the same place when they talk
about McCains. I'd say that McCain has a lot of things to live with
IF YOU take the time to read his story. Of course I am sure it will
not fit into the right wing agenda or McCain's version..... but what
the heck.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-542277/How-war-hero-John-McCain-betrayed-Vietnamese-peasant-saved-life.html
How war hero John McCain betrayed the Vietnamese peasant who saved his
life
In all the tales of wartime courage peppering John McCain's
presidential campaign trail, perhaps the most outstanding example of
selfless heroism involves not the candidate but a humble Vietnamese
peasant.
On October 26, 1967, Mai Van On ran from the safety of a bomb shelter
at the height of an air raid and swam out into the lake where
Lieutenant Commander McCain was drowning, tangled in his parachute
cord after ejecting when his Skyhawk bomber was hit by a missile.
In an extraordinary act of compassion at a time when Vietnamese
citizens were being killed by US aerial bombardments, he pulled a
barely conscious McCain to the lake surface and, with the help of a
neighbour, dragged him towards the shore.
What followed, according to McCain, was five-and-a-half years of
torture and brutal beatings as a prisoner of war - an account that has
given a steely edge to his candidacy by establishing him as a true
American war hero.
But the story is at odds with the version uncovered by Vietnam veteran
Chuck Searcy, who lives in Hanoi and is in charge of the Vietnam
Veteran Memorial Fund.
In 1995, Mr On gave me a letter he wanted me to deliver to McCain,?
said Searcy.
'It said, 'I am the guy who pulled you out of the lake and I have
followed your progress over the years. I wish the best for you and
your family and I hope some day you will be president of the United
States.'
I thought it was endearing. I sent the letter to McCain's office and I
got back a sniffy response from some assistant saying, 'Mr McCain
isn't interested in these fanciful stories.'?