He was a Republican. He was a conservative. He was involved in the banking scandal that rocked the nation in the late 1980’s. John McCain was many things.
Above all, he was a hero.
How he was shot down over Hanoi during his 23rd bombing mission, how both his arms were broken and his knee shattered, how he was made to walk through Hanoi being beaten, stabbed and kicked along the way, and then how he was thrown into solitary confinement for two years at the Hanoi Hilton – well – that isn’t even the beginning of the story about McCain’s captivity.
Kept in solitary for two years and then in a small cell being repeatedly beaten for another three years – and refusing to give in or to complain, or to sign a statement and to leave early because his father was a four star admiral and the Vietnamese said he could leave if he rst sold out his nation – he refused.
For us here at the Leader Herald, how McCain came back from this abyss to become a congressman and then a senator and then to run for president – well, stories about great Americans don’t get better than this.
We mourn his passing.
He was a tough guy with a great personality – and he was adored by his children.
If you want to cry, watch his daughter, Meaghan McCain on You Tube deliver her eulogy for her father.
The man was able to love – and that makes a great man.