How war hero John McCain betrayed the Vietnamese peasant who saved his life

In all the tales of wartime courage peppering John McCain's presidential campaign trail, perhaps the most outstanding example of selfless heroism involves not the candidate but a humble Vietnamese peasant.

On October 26, 1967, Mai Van On ran from the safety of a bomb shelter at the height of an air raid and swam out into the lake where Lieutenant Commander McCain was drowning, tangled in his parachute cord after ejecting when his Skyhawk bomber was hit by a missile.

In an extraordinary act of compassion at a time when Vietnamese citizens were being killed by US aerial bombardments, he pulled a barely conscious McCain to the lake surface and, with the help of a neighbour, dragged him towards the shore.

And when a furious mob at the water's edge began to beat and stab the captured pilot, Mr On drove them back.

Nearly three decades later, a Vietnamese government commission confirmed he was indeed the rescuer and, in a 1996 meeting in Hanoi, McCain embraced and thanked Mr On and presented him with a Senate memento.

From that brief encounter to his death at the age of 88 two years ago, Mr On never heard from the senator again, and three years after their meeting, McCain published an autobiography that makes no mention of his apparent debt to Mr On.

His widow, Bui Thi Lien, 71, said: “In his last years, my husband was very sad sometimes.

”Mr McCain would be dead if it weren't for my husband. He would never have returned to his family and he wouldn't be in the presidential race today.”

Last week on a visit to Britain to meet Gordon Brown, McCain paid tribute to the role played by British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - comments that carried extra weight in the light of McCain's own wartime exploits.

In his 1999 autobiography, Faith Of My Fathers, which laid the ground for his first, unsuccessful run for president in 2000, McCain wrote a Boy's Own-style narrative of his rescue: “When I came to, I was being hauled ashore on two bamboo poles.

To the rescue: John McCain, lying on his back across a bamboo log, is saved by villagers - including Mai Van On - after his jet was shot down in 1967

“A crowd of several hundred Vietnamese gathered around me as I lay dazed before them, shouting wildly at me, stripping my clothes off, spitting on me, kicking and striking me repeatedly.”

What followed, according to McCain, was five-and-a-half years of torture and brutal beatings as a prisoner of war - an account that has given a steely edge to his candidacy by establishing him as a true American war hero.

But the story is at odds with the version uncovered by Vietnam veteran Chuck Searcy, who lives in Hanoi and is in charge of the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Fund.

“In 1995, Mr On gave me a letter he wanted me to deliver to McCain,” said Searcy.

“'It said, 'I am the guy who pulled you out of the lake and I have followed your progress over the years. I wish the best for you and your family and I hope some day you will be president of the United States.'

“I thought it was endearing. I sent the letter to McCain's office and I got back a sniffy response from some assistant saying, 'Mr McCain isn't interested in these fanciful stories.'“

Republican candidate John McCain met French President Nicholas Sarkozy this week

Indeed, claiming to have saved McCain had by then become something of a cottage industry in Hanoi.

Searcy, 63, recalled: “There had been a lot of preposterous claims, but I asked the neighbours around the lake if it was true and they said that was exactly how it happened.”

He said: “I mentioned the story of Mr On to him, and told him it was true. He said, 'Hell, I would like to meet this guy - I'll set it up.'“

McCain, then a senator closely involved in rebuilding US-Vietnam relations, visited Hanoi in 1996, and a meeting was arranged with Searcy and Mr On.

Searcy said: “Mr On was a wiry little guy. He looked as if he had only ever shaved once or twice and he had his old uniform on.

Then, through an interpreter, Mr On recounted the events of that day as McCain listened.

“Everybody was afraid because they knew it was an American pilot and they didn't know what to do.

“He said he just instinctively grabbed this big bamboo log and threw it into the water and jumped in after it.

“One of his neighbours joined him and the two of them swam out to the parachute.

”Apparently McCain had broken both arms and one leg, and had sunk to the bottom, but they pulled him out of the lake.

“When they got to the bank, a couple of men attacked McCain, breaking his shoulder with a rifle butt and stabbing his leg, before Mr On stopped them.

”That day, he saved McCain from drowning and then from maybe being killed by the mob.

“McCain listened but there was no dramatic response. He just nodded, said, 'Thank you very much,' and gave Mr On a little Senate seal.

“It was the kind of thing you buy in the souvenir shop in the Senate basement.

“But Mr On, to the day he died, treated it as if it were a Congressional Medal of Honour.”

But although McCain appeared to believe the story, it was one he would later seem to ignore in his autobiography and there was no more contact between the two men.

When Mr On died in 2006, an email was apparently sent to McCain's office requesting a message of condolence for the family. There was no response.

But his refusal to acknowledge his heroism is likely to fuel other, more damaging allegations that McCain exaggerated elements of his PoW ordeal in Hoa Lo prison.

Phung Van Chung, 70, who was a Communist Party official at the time, claims McCain was quickly singled out for softer treatment, adding: “I found out he was the son of an American admiral, so the top people wanted to keep him as a live witness so they could use him for negotiations.”

Mr On's son-in-law, Nguyen Ngoc Toan, said: “Before he died, he told us not to sell the medal McCain gave him.

He said, 'If any of the grandchildren ever go to America, having it might help them.'“

In 2000, McCain, by then a presidential candidate, visited the lake that almost claimed his life.

“His entourage was outside our house but Mr McCain just passed by,” said Mr On's widow, who insists she bears no grudge.

Behind her calm words, however, lies an anxiety to right the injustice she feels her husband suffered.

As we prepared to leave she clutched my hand and said: “Please help us to remind Mr McCain what my husband did.

”Just a few words will be enough to let the family know that he is grateful.”

Thursday, February 24, 2000

Mai Van On, 83, on Wednesday, Feb. 23, describes how he swam out and rescued John McCain from Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi 33 years ago. McCain, whose plane was shot down over Hanoi, spent 5 1/2 years as a prisioner of war. Associated Press Photo

McCain's Vietnam rescuer talks

The Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam — The U.S. presidential race would have been much different if Mai Van On had listened to his angry neighbors 33 years ago.

Instead, even as others cursed him, he rescued a shot-down American pilot from drowning in Hanoi's Truc Bach lake.

And while On isn't happy about some of John McCain's recent comments, he said Wednesday that a November victory for the Arizona senator would still be good news.

``I wish him good luck and prosperity,'' On said.

On Oct. 26, 1967, McCain was a 31-year-old Navy fighter pilot who was part of a bombing mission on the North Vietnamese capital. On usually didn't go home from work on his lunch break, but he did that cool, sunny autumn day.

Air-raid sirens sounded as On reached the thatched-roof house on the lakeshore, and he rushed to join 60 people in a nearby shelter. Bombs soon were falling, and Vietnamese soldiers let loose with anti-aircraft artillery and missiles.

``I was at the entrance to the shelter, looking up at the sky, and I saw one plane hit by a missile. The tail was cut off, and it came down,'' On recalled, waving his arms animatedly as he re-enacted the scene.

``I jumped out of the shelter. Others tried to prevent me from going out, saying it was too dangerous and cursing me, asking, `Why do you want to go out and rescue our enemy?'

``I went anyway, grabbed a bamboo pole and swam to where he went down. It was about 200 meters (yards). Only his parachute was floating.''

McCain was below the surface of the 16-foot-deep water, entangled in the parachute cords. On said he cleared the ropes and pulled McCain to the surface.

``His head was drooping and his eyes were closed. They gradually opened, and I saw a look of relief that he was still alive,'' On said.

Mai Van On, 83, sits by a monument commemorating the capture of American pilot John McCain on Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi in October 1967. Associated Press Photo

He gave McCain one end of the pole as he held the other and swam with one arm. Another man helped them to shore. On recalled that McCain's flight suit was torn, revealing a good-luck charm around his neck.

``He could not walk, so I had to help him. At first, I thought he had no injuries, but I later learned he had a broken arm and broken leg,'' On said.

``About 40 people were standing there. They were about to rush him with their fists and stones. I asked them not to kill him. He was beaten for a while before I could stop them.''

McCain was handed over to the local police, and it wasn't until years later that On learned the name of the man he had saved.

They finally met in 1996 during one of McCain's six visits to Vietnam since the war ended in 1975. On was given a U.S. Senate key ring that remains in its small clear-plastic box.

``We shook hands and hugged each other,'' On said. ``He sat next to me and asked me: `I was your adversary; why did you rescue me?' I told him: `You were about to die. Based on the humanitarian nature of the Vietnamese people, I rescued you.'''

While On is proud of what he did, calling himself a bridge between Vietnam and the United States, he said he was disappointed to hear that McCain claims he was tortured during his five years as a prisoner of war at the infamous ``Hanoi Hilton.''

McCain has released medical records in which he talked of being mistreated so badly while a POW that he tried twice to hang himself. Vietnam has consistently denied torturing any prisoners of war.

``I just pulled him from the lake,'' On said. ``I know he was given privileged medical care for his wounds. I have no idea whether he was tortured while he was in prison.''

On said, however, that he was saddened to hear of McCain's comments. ``I feel he has lost the kindness of the Vietnam people after all the good things they did for him,'' he said.

McCain also has been criticized for using ``gooks,'' a derogatory term, to describe his prison guards.

His comments ``have hurt the Vietnamese and Asian peoples,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said Monday in a statement broadcast on national television.

On, who saw the broadcast, said, ``the war has been over for 25 years. We should put it in the past and not talk about it.''

Vietnam and the United States normalized relations five years ago, and have been negotiating a trade deal. On April 30, Vietnam will mark the 25th anniversary of the end of the war.

``In relations with countries that once had been hostile with Vietnam, it is our policy to temporarily put the past aside, look forward to the future and cooperate for mutual development,'' Thanh said Monday. ``We think the U.S. side understands this.''

Today, On is a spry but undernourished 83 — he is 5-foot-3 but weighs only 90 pounds — with deeply sunken cheeks, a close-cropped white goatee and fingertips stained brown from cigarettes. He and his wife share their small two-story house with 11 relatives.

On says he would like to visit the United States, but doesn't know if his health would permit it.

``I don't know if John McCain would invite me. I would like to visit his home and family.''

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