I am reading a fantastic book about John McCain called "Man of the People". I'm very much a Democrat and lean towards liberal thinking, but McCain has always appealed to me. I have to say that Obama just hasn't caught me.
I am so excited about the things I am reading in this book that I have decided to share them online. Know this - I am aware that the book I am reading is "Pro McCain" and not without bias.
Fact 1: Both McCain's father and grandfather were well respected Navy Admirals.
Fact 2: While stationed in Corpus Christi in 1960: "One Saturday, as he was making a practice run, his engine died. Unable to reach the landing strip, he crashed into Corpus Christi Bay. The plane sank to the bottom, and McCain, knocked out temporarily when the plane slammed into the water, came to and somehow broke the canopy, wedged his way out of the cockpit, and swam up to the surface. He had escaped the crash, which could have killed him, with no major injuries.
Fact 3:While stationed on the The Forrestal in the Vietnam War in 1967, "a plane several positions down from McCains' experienced "a wet burst". A large flame shot out of the plane and ignited a missle on a nearby aircraft.The missle zoomed across the deck and crashed into either McCain's plane or the one just to the right of his. The deck was almost instantly consumed in flames...the fire rapidly consumed much of the 4 acre flight deck...men ran around naked since the clothes had been burned from their body - they were burning from head to foot...planes were shoved overboard, hoping to prevent more deadly explosions. The fire raged for almost 11hrs...in all, four massive holes were left in the deck, 26 planes were lost, 135 men died...while the ship was back at port for repairs recruiters came over from the USS Orinskany, which had one of the highest losses of any airwing in the war. They had lost a number of pilots and needed volunteers...McCain volunteered to join them.
I'll write about his POW expereince later. It is amazing.