Vietnam veteran biography
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John McCain
McCain’s paternal grandfather and his father were four-star admirals; his father rose to command all the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific.
Vietnam veteran biography
A graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, McCain volunteered for combat duty in Vietnam and began flying carrier-based planes on low-altitude bombing missions over North and South Vietnam. On October 23, 1967, during his 23rd air mission, the North Vietnamese shot down McCain’s plane over Hanoi; he broke both arms and one leg in the crash.
When his captors learned he was the son of a high-ranking officer, they offered him early release, but McCain refused, partly because he wanted to prevent the enemy from using his release as propaganda.
Did you know?
Jimmy Stewart, Academy Award-winning star of The Philadelphia Story and other classics, flew bombing missions over Nazi Germany during World War II and in 1959 was named a brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
As part of his duties in this post, the 57-year-old S