Don’t be so sure of that
read this prize-winning historians investigation inot the Forrestal disastrer
She compares McCains version of what went down that day (published in his book “Faith of My Fathers” and other interviews) with other sources and interviews with other eyewitnesses and finds disturbing discrepancies
For example McCain claims the misfired Zuni hit his aircraft....which is false
He claims the missile hit (false) caused his aircraft to release 2 bombs (only one bomb was released) which sent the conflagration into a major disaster and the bomb blast killed many including LCDR Fred White, the pilot in the aircraft next to McCain - whose plane was the one hit by the Zuni. Fred White is airbrushed out of McCains memories and narratives about that day...why?
If McCain’s aircraft was NOT hit by the Zuni missile but McCains aitrcraft released a bomb, sources told the historian it was because McCain hit the wrong switches when trying to get out of his aircraft. I am not an A-4 pilot so cannot vouch for that. But the SkyHawl association does memorialize Fred White as the pilot whose plane was struck by the Zuni.
Now, one would think McCain w9uld remember the facts of that incident...so why the false narrative?
To me the most UNBELIEVABLE fact is that McCain showed up in Saigon drinking scotch and talking to a NYT reporter less than 48 hours after the Forrestal disaster!
The day after this accident - in which he was in the center and saw his squad mates and deck crew killed before his eyes, he left the Forrestal while it was still burning and the dead still missing. He missed the memorial service held for his crew and his unit. Almost the day after the disaster, McCain told reporters in Saigon he was having some “much needed R&R”.
WHAT MILITARY OFFUCER DOES THAT??????
He left his buddies behind, possibly the only officer to leave the ship except for the medivacs. Only after a week did he rejoin his cripple carrier and crew for debriefings in Subic and then jetted off for 3 months of screwing around in Europe (where Dad was the Commander Naval Forces) during the accident investigation, which found no one person at fault. The origin of the aircraft that released its bomb was probably left open (historian states deck camera film was indeterminate and all witnesses except McCain died) .... findings which may have saved his career and gotten the Orisknay to accept him as a pilot - from which he was shot down within weeks by AAA fire (not a SAM, another discrepancy he oddly claims)
I wish someone would ask Mr McCain if he ever visited the family or the grave of LCDR Fred White (buried in Arlington) who like McCain scrambled from his plane and tried to run. but was killed by the bomb blast, unlike the very fortunate McCain who suffered not a scratch nor a burn that was ever documented as being treated
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081007_investigating_john_mccains_tragedy_at_sea