However, John McCain's actual behavior from October to December 1967
is quite different from the Navy's version of events.

On October 27, 1967, four days after being shot down, McCain called
for a North Vietnamese guard. He told the officer, "O.K., I'll give
you military information if you will take me to the hospital." -U.S.
News and World Report, May 14, 1973 article written by former POW
John
McCain


McCain was taken to Gai Lam military hospital. (U.S. government
documents) "Demands for military information were accompanied by
threats to terminate my medical treatment if I [McCain] did not
cooperate. Eventually, I gave them my ship's name and squadron
number,
and confirmed that my target had been the power plant." Page 193-194,
Faith of My Fathers by John McCain


On Nov. 9, 1967, Hanoi press began quoting the seriously injured
McCain giving specific military information.


One report dated read, "To a question of the correspondent, McCain
answered: 'My assignment to the Oriskany, I told myself, was due to
serious losses in pilots, which were sustained by this aircraft
carrier (due to its raids on the North Vietnam territory - VNA) and
which necessitated replacements.


"'From 10 to 12 pilots were transferred like me from the Forrestal to
the Oriskany.


"'Before I was shot down, we had made several sorties. Altogether, I
made about 23 flights over North Vietnam.'"


In that report, McCain was quoted describing the number of aircraft
in
his flight, information about rescue ships, and the order of which
his
attack was supposed to take place.


Through the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Veteran Dispatch
acquired a declassified Department of Defense (DOD) transcript of an
interview prominent French television reporter Francois Chalais had
with McCain.


Chalais told of his private interview with POW McCain in a series
titled Life in Hanoi, which was aired in Europe. In the series,
Chalais said his meeting with McCain was "a meeting which will leave
its mark on my life."


"My meeting with John Sidney McCain was certainly one of those
meetings which will affect me most profoundly for the rest of my
life.
I had asked the North Vietnamese authorities to allow me to
personally
interrogate an American prisoner. They authorized me to do so.


"When night fell, they took me---without any precautions or mystery--
to a hospital near the Gia Lam airport reserved for the military.
(passage omitted) The officer who receives me begins: I ask you not
to
ask any questions of political nature. If this man replies in a way
unfavorable to us, they will not hesitate to speak of 'brainwashing'
and conclude that we threatened him.


"'This John Sidney McCain is not an ordinary prisoner. His father is
none other than Admiral Edmond John McCain, commander in chief of
U.S.
naval forces in Europe. (passage omitted)'"


". . . Many visitors came to talk to me [John McCain]. Not all of it
was for interrogation. Once a famous North Vietnamese writer-an old
man with a Ho Chi Minh beard-came to my room, wanting to know all
about Ernest Hemingway . . . Others came to find out about life in
the
United States.


"They figured because my father had such high military rank that I
was
of the royalty or governing circle . . . One of the men who came to
see me, whose picture I recognized later, was Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap,
the
hero of Dienbienphu." U.S. News and World Report, May 14, 1973
article
written by former POW John McCain


December 1967, Vietnamese doctors operate (early December) on
McCain's
Leg. Later that month, six weeks after he was shot down, McCain was
taken from the hospital and delivered to Room No. 11 of "The
Plantation" into the hands of two other U.S. POWs, Air Force majors
George "Bud" Day and Norris Overly. They helped further nurse him
along until he was eventually able to walk by himself. --Faith of My
Fathers by John McCain


Read retired Army Col. David Hackworth's opinion of Sen. McCain's
medals.


STAY TUNED, MORE OF MCCAIN'S CITATIONS WILL BE POSTED HERE SOON


Ted Sampley
publisher