All told, he had spent five and a half years as a prisoner, with a substantial amount of that time in solitary confinement. And, though he was self-deprecatingly aware of the irony of becoming well-known as a military man for what he did as a prisoner of war, his story struck a chord with Americans of all political leanings. And McCain, as much as anyone, knew that such a feeling was rare — and something that should not go to waste. In the decades that followed, he proved that incarceration did more than merely offer the opportunity to make his own name.
It shaped his life and gave him an origin story that would sustain the McCain mythology throughout the rest of his time in the military, as well as in the House and the Senate. Write to Lily Rothman at lily. By Lily Rothman. John McCain, front, right with his squadron in Get our History Newsletter. Put today's news in context and see highlights from the archives. He walked with a heavy limp but went unaided to his evacuation plane. The POWs wore loose gray shirts and baggy trousers issued by their captors an hour before.
The men seemed tense when they got off the small camouflage-painted buses at Gia Lam. A crowd of several hundred North Vietnamese soldiers and civilians stared at them in the glaring noon sun.
Only when they spotted the American escort officers did most of the men break into wide grins. Tension and stiffness gave way to relaxation. In they landed in Washington, D. The plebe balked at rules, led a clique called the Bad Bunch and played poker till the wee hours. Even so, McCain showed leadership skills, once even chastising an upperclassman for unfairly berating a steward.
As the antithesis of naval spick-and-span, McCain regularly earned demerits for unshined shoes and lateness. When he graduated in , he ranked th in a class of Ensign McCain then headed to flight school in Pensacola, Fla. Back in Pensacola, he met Carol Shepp. They married in July , and he adopted her two sons, Douglas and Andrew.
He was soon off to Meridian, Miss. Assigned to the U. Here's a look at what McCain endured during his time in captivity, which began in October , according to an interview with U.
News shortly after his release. But the sheer force of the ejection broke his right leg and both arms, knocking him unconscious, the report said.
McCain came to as he landed in a lake, but burdened by heavy equipment, he sank straight to the bottom. Able to kick to the surface momentarily for air, he somehow managed to activate his life preserver with his teeth. Once he reached the surface, he was pulled ashore by some North Vietnamese , the account said. As his captors tore at his clothes in the wake of the crash, McCain recalls realizing the extent of his injuries.
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