♪Let me tell you now, oh it must be love♪
>>> SENATOR, WHEN YOU WOKE UP
THIS MORNING, DID YOU SAY TO
YOURSELF WHERE WAS I 50 YEARS
AGO?
AGO? >> YOU KNOW, I DID.
AND I THOUGHT, WOW, MAYBE I
ZIGGED WHEN I SHOULD HAVE
ZAGGED.
ZAGGED. I THOUGHT ABOUT IT A LOT, BUT I
ALSO THOUGHT ABOUT, TOM, ABOUT
THE HEROES THAT I HAVE KNOWN AND
THE BENEFIT OF HAVING SERVED IN
THE COMPANY OF HEROES.
AND I AM THE LUCKIEST GUY YOU
WILL EVER TALK TO.
>> JOHN McCAIN WAS MORE THAN OF
COURSE A SENATOR BUT A DECORATED
ARMY VETERAN AND PRISONER OF WAR
WHO WAS TORTURED AT THE HANDS OF
HIS CAPTORS.
HIS CAPTORS. >> HE WAS JOHN McCAIN III, THE
SON AND GRANDSON OF U.S. NAVY
ADMIRALS BUT HIS WAR WAS
VIETNAM.
VIETNAM. IN JULY 1967 THE BRASH YOUNG
FIGHTER PILOT NARROWLY ESCAPED
DEATH.
DEATH. A MASSIVE FIRE NEARLY SANK THE
SHIP, CLAIMING THE LIVES OF MORE
THAN 100 MEN.
JUST THREE MONTHS LATER WHILE ON
HIS 23rd COMBAT MISSION McCAIN’S
PLANE WAS HIT BY ENEMY FIRE.
>> YESTERDAY OVER HUNOI THREE
AMERICAN PLANES WERE SHOT DOWN
AND AT LEAST TWO OF THEIR PILOTS
CAPTURED.
CAPTURED. ONE WAS LIEUTENANT JOHN McCAIN
III.
III. >> I WAS HIT, I WAS EJECTED FROM
MY AIRPLANE, AND I WAS KNOCKED
UNCONSCIOUS BY THE EJECTION AND
INJURED, MY ARMS BROKEN, MY LEGS
BROKEN.
BROKEN. >> McCAIN WAS SEVERELY WOUNDED
AND IN SHOCK.
THE VIETNAMESE DENIED HIM
MEDICAL ATTENTION.
MEDICAL ATTENTION. >> I WAS DUMPED IN A DARK CELL
AND LEFT TO DIE.
>> AND THAIN THEY REALIZED HIS
PROPAGANDA VALUE.
PROPAGANDA VALUE. >> WHEN THEY DISCOVERED MY
FATHER WAS AN ADMIRAL THEY TOOK
ME TO A HOSPITAL.
THEY COULDN’T SET MY BONES
PROPERLY SO THEY JUST SLAPPED A
CAST ON ME.
>> A FRENCH FILM CREW WAS
SUMMONED TO DOCUMENT THE POWs
GOOD TREATMENT.
GOOD TREATMENT. BUT McCAIN REFUSED TO COOPERATE
WITH HIS CAPTORS EVEN WHEN HE
WAS OFFERED THE OPPORTUNITY TO
GO HOME.
GO HOME. >> OUR CODE SAID WE COULD ONLY
GO HOME IN THE ORDER OF OUR
CAPTURE, AND THERE WERE MEN WHO
WOULD BEEN SHOT DOWN LONG BEFORE
ME.
ME. >> IT WOULD COST HIM TWO YEARS
IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.
>> THERE WERE SEVERE BEATINGS,
BROKE MY ARMS.
AT TIMES I WASN’T IN GOOD
PHYSICAL SHAPE ANYWAY AND IT
MADE IT MUCH WORSE.
>> HE WOULD ONCE BREAK DURING AN
INTERROGATION AND HE WOULD
ATTEMPT SUICIDE.
ATTEMPT SUICIDE. IN ALL JOHN McCAIN WOULD SPEND 5
SNF YEARS AS A PRISONERNER OF
WAR.
WAR. RELEASED IN 1973 HE FINALLY
RETURNED HOME FOREVER SHAPED BY
HIS EXPERIENCE BUT NEVER BITTER.
YEARS LATER AS A SENATOR WORKING
WITH TWO PRESIDENTS HE PLAYED A
KEY ROLE IN RESTORING RELATIONS
WITH VIETNAM.
WITH VIETNAM. >> IT’S VERY IMPORTANT FOR US TO
RECOGNIZE THAT THE WAR IS OVER.
>> JOHN McCAIN NOT ONLY SURVIVED
VIETNAM, HE MADE PEACE WITH THE
PAST.
PAST. >> I PUT THE VIETNAM WAR BEHIND
ME A LONG TIME AGO.
I HARBOR NO ANGER, NO RANCOR.
I’M A BETTER MAN FOR MY
EXPERIENCE AND I’M GRATEFUL FOR
HAVING HAD THE OPPORTUNITY OF
SERVING.
SERVING. >> HIS HEROS, HE ALWAYS SAID
WERE HIS FELLOW POWs, HIS FELLOW
AMERICANS.
AMERICANS. >> I FELL IN LOVE WITH MY
COUNTRY WHEN I WAS A PRISONER IN
SOMEONE ELSE’S.
SOMEONE ELSE’S. I LOVED IT BECAUSE IT WAS NOT
JUST A PLACE, BUT AN IDEA, A
CAUSE WORTH FIGHTING FOR.
I WAS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN.
I WASN’T MY OWN MAN ANYMORE.
I WAS MY COUNTRY’S.
>> HARRY SMITH, NBC NEWS, NEW
YORK.
YORK. >> JOINING ME NOW IS MSNBC
MILITARY ANALYST JACK JACOBS CAN
COUNT TERRORISM NANCE.
COLONEL JACK JACOBS, YOUR
THOUGHTS ON THE PASSING OF JOHN
McCAIN.
McCAIN. >> WELL, THERE’S A BIG GAP NOW
IN LEADERSHIP.
IN LEADERSHIP. HE WAS THE KIND OF PERSON
EVERYBODY COULD RELY ONTO BE
SENSIBLE ABOUT THINGS, START AT
THE END AND WORK BACKWARDS,
THINK ABOUT WHAT THE OBJECTIVE
IS FIRST BEFORE YOU ALLOCATE
RESOURCES.
RESOURCES. HE WAS THE KIND OF PERSON WHO
TAUGHT US A VERY IMPORTANT AND
PRODUCTIVE WAY OF LOOKING AT
THINGS, AND THAT IS THAT YOU
CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT
YESTERDAY.
YESTERDAY. THE ONLY THING YOU CAN WORK ON
IS TOMORROW, AND YOU HAVE TO
DEDICATE YOURSELF TO IMPROVING
THE FUTURE, FULMINATING ABOUT
THE PAST GETS YOU ABSOLUTELY
NOWHERE.
NOWHERE. AND I THINK HE TAUGHT THAT TO
ALL.
ALL. >> YOU KNOW BETTER THAN MOST
VIETNAM WAS SUCH A DIVISIVE
ISSUE IT WASHED THROUGH OUR
POLITICS THROUGH THE 1990s, THE
QUESTION ON WHETHER YOU STOOD
FOR THE WAR, OPPOSED THE WAR,
WHETHER YOU GOT DEFERMENTS, IT
USED TO BE THE ISSUE IN
POLITICS.
POLITICS. JOHN McCAIN SOMEONE WHO A POW
FOR FOUR YEARS, WORKED WITH
CARRY.
CARRY. HE WAS ABLE TO OVERCOME HIS OWN
PERSONAL HISTORY BUT THE ANXIETY
ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR.
>> THEY’RE BOTH SERIOUS ABOUT
WHERE WE’RE HEADED, WHAT DOES IT
TAKE TO GET TO WHERE WE WANT TO
GO.
GO. AND ONE OF THINGS THAT COMES
IMMEDIATELY TO MIND WAS THE FACT
THAT THE WAR IN VIETNAM WAS VERY
MUCH DIFFERENT THAN THE OTHER
WARS WE HAD FOUGHT.
PARTICULARLY THE SECOND WORLD
WAR, WHERE EVERYBODY, EVERY
HOUSEHOLD HAD MADE A COMMITMENT
TO DEFEND THE REPUBLIC.
I GREW UP IN A NEIGHBORHOOD IN
NEW YORK CITY WHERE I DON’T
REMEMBER A SINGLE SOLITARY
FRIEND OF MINE WHOSE FATHER HAD
NOT BEEN IN THE WAR.
20 YEARS LATER WHEN WE WERE
FIGHTING IN VIETNAM IT WAS A
SELECTIVE WAR.
SELECTIVE WAR. IF YOU WERE GOING TO COLLEGE YOU
DIDN’T HAVE TO GO TO WAR.
IF YOU WERE MARRIED YOU DIDN’T
HAVE TO GO TO WAR.
WE WERE VERY -- WE HAD SELECTIVE
SERVICE, AND WE WERE VERY
SELECTIVE ABOUT WHO WE PICKED.
THEREFORE, THERE WAS NOT THIS
COMMON EXPERIENCE THAT WE HAD IN
THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
AND THE PEOPLE WHO SERVED BECAME
RELATIVELY ISOLATED FROM THE
REST OF THE REPUBLIC.
JOHN McCAIN’S VIEW ABOUT ALL OF
THAT WAS THAT WAS A BAD THING TO
DO, THAT WAS A BAD PLACE TO GO
AND TRIED VERY, VERY HARD AND
WAS SUCCESSFUL IN CHANGING
PEOPLE’S ATTITUDES ABOUT WHAT
SERVICE TO COUNTRY REALLY MEANT.
>> TO THE NAVY MAN NOW, MALCOLM
NANCE, YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE
PASSING OF JOHN McCAIN.
>> I’M HEARTBROKEN.
I HAD A PRETTY ROUGH NIGHT
EARLIER AS YOU KNOW, SAID SOME
TOUGH THINGS ON TWITTER.
BUT I’M A NAVY MAN, I’M A CHIEF.
I MET JOHN McCAIN AND THE FIRST
THING I SAID TO HIM I WAS SO
EXCITED AND I’M A CHIEF, I’M A
SENIOR CHIEF.
SENIOR CHIEF. AND HE GOES EVERYTHING I LEARNED
IN THE NAVY I LEARNED FROM A
CHIEF.
CHIEF. AND WHEN I WAST A SURVIVOR
SCHOOL IN CORONADO I HAD RED HIS
PINK CLASSIFIED DEBRIEF, AND
THAT MAN WAS TREATED HORRIBLY,
HE WAS TORTURED MERCILESSLY.
ADMIRAL STOCKDALE WOULD COME
INTO THE SCHOOL, JUST WONDER IN
AND TALK ABOUT HOW JOHN McCAIN
WAS THROWN INTO A HOLE IN CAL
CUTTA, AND THEY CALLED THOSE
PEOPLE TIGERS BECAUSE THEY WOULD
GO IN THERE, AND IN THESE
HORRIBLE CONDITIONS OF
CAPTIVITY, HE SURVIVED THE
FORESTAL FIRE, THE SINGLE MASS
CONFLAGERATION AND JOHN McCAIN
WAS LITERALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF
THAT EXPLOSION AS AIRPLANES WERE
SPLASHING AROUND HIM.
THIS MAN IS A GIANT NOT JUST IN
THE U.S. NAVY.
THANK GOD HE WILL BE BURIED NEXT
OR NEAR JOHN PAUL JONES.
>> I’LL TELL YOU NEXT IF YOU
ASKED HIM HE WOULD SAY HE
FAILED.
FAILED. AND HE FAILED BECAUSE ALTHOUGH
EVERYBODY SAYS I’M GOING TO
RESIST, I’M GOING TO EKOO KEEP
RESISTING AND THEY’RE NOT GOING
TO GET ANYTHING FROM ME, IN THE
END HE WAS BROKEN.
AND HE WAS BROKEN BECAUSE
EVERYBODY BREAKS AT ONE POINT.
AND EVERYBODY -- MALCOLM KNOWS
AND I KNEW WHO WERE A PART OF
THAT, GENERAL BOYD AND GYM
STOCKDALE, AND EVERYBODY ELSE IN
THE TOUR ALL SAID THAT JOHN
McCAIN WAS THE BRAVEST GUY THEY
HAD EVER MET.
NOTWITHSTANDING THAT JOHN McCAIN
HAD EXTREMELY HIGH STANDARDS FOR
HIS OWN DEPORTMENT AND THOUGHT
THAT HE HAD FAILED BUT HE HADN’T
FAILED.
FAILED. >> IT WASN’T ABOUT BREAKING.
IT WAS ABOUT HONOR.
AND THIS IS WHAT WE’RE MISSING
TODAY, WHY WE’RE ALL SAD.
WE’RE NOW IN A PERIOD WHERE
WE’RE DEVOID OF HONOR.
SOMEONE HAS TO STAND UP, OTHERS
HAVE TO STAND UP TO TAKE THIS
NATION’S HONOR BACK.
AND JOHN McCAIN IS GONE AND NOW
YOU HAVE A ROLE MODEL FOR THAT.
>> WE FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT
HIM AND WHAT HE LEFT BEHIND.
>> ABSOLUTELY.
>> ABSOLUTELY. AND THAT COMES THROUGH.