50 year anniversary of John McCain’s Vietnam capture

As the Arizona Senator posted on his Twitter feed, it was 50 years ago today, Oct. 26, that John McCain’s plane was shot down and he was taken prisoner in Vietnam.

In 1967, McCain was on a bombing mission over Hanoi when his A-4E Skyhawk plane was shot down by a missile. McCain was seriously injured — both arms and a leg were fractured when he ejected, he almost drowned after he parachuted Truc Bach Lake and his North Vietnamese captors crushed his shoulder and bayoneted him.

McCain spent five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the prison nicknamed the “Hanoi Hilton” before his release on March 14, 1973.

Upon his return to the United States, McCain went through physical therapy, retired from the Navy in 1981 as a captain, and decided to run for Congress.

He was elected to represent Arizona in Congress in 1982 and the U.S. Senate in 1987, entered the presidential campaign against George W. Bush in 2000, and ran for President in 2008 as the Republican nominee.

During a running feud with McCain in 2015, Politico reported that Donald Trump said of him, “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” During a press event after the incident in Ames, Iowa, Trump denied his remarks saying “If somebody’s a prisoner, I consider them a war hero.” Then followed that remark with “I think John McCain’s done very little for the veterans. I’m very disappointed in John McCain.”

On July 14 of this year, McCain was diagnosed with a brain tumor, underwent surgery and returned to the Senate on July 25. On July 28, he cast the deciding vote against the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare).