Posted on 09/01/2018 4:36:21 PM PDT by Ceebass
John McCain is being hailed by the press as a "genuine war hero." But is he a war hero in the conventional sense like Audie Murphy and John Glenn? Or is his "war hero" status the creation of a very slick publicity campaign that plays on flag, duty, honor and country?
For sure, McCain has the fruit salad - a Silver Star, a Legion of Merit for Valor, a Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Stars, two Commendation medals plus two Purple Hearts and a dozen service gongs. On a purely medal-count basis, he outweighs Murphy and Glenn, who both for years repeatedly performed extraordinary deeds on the ground or in the air against an armed enemy.
McCain's valor awards are based on what happened in 1967, when during his 23rd mission over Vietnam, he was shot down, seriously injured, captured and brutally imprisoned for 5 1/2 years.
I asked his Senate office three times to provide copies of the narratives for each medal. I'm still waiting. From the Pentagon, I received a recap of his medals and many of the narratives that give the details of what he did.
Only the DFC was for heroism over the battlefield - where he spent no more than 20 hours. Two Navy officers described the awards as "boilerplate" and "part of an SOP medal package given to repatriated (Vietnam-era) POWs."
McCain's Silver Star narrative for the period from Oct. 27, 1967 - the day after he was shot down - to Dec. 8, 1968, reads: "His captors ... subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly towards the eventual abandonment" of such harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese.
Yet McCain admitted that just four days after being captured he violated the U.S. Code of Conduct by telling his captors "OK, I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital."
A Vietnam vet detractor says: "He received the nation's third-highest award, the Silver Star, for treason. He provided aid and comfort to the enemy!"
The rest of his valor awards - issued automatically every year while he was a POW - read much like the Silver Star. More boilerplate often repeating the exact same words.
McCain's conduct while a POW negates these glowing comments. The facts are that he signed a confession and declared himself a "black criminal who performed deeds of an air pirate." This statement and other interviews he gave to the Communist press were used as propaganda to fan the flames of the anti-war movement.
Accounts by McCain and other writers tell of the horrors he endured: relentless beatings, torture, broken limbs. All inflicted during savage interrogations. Yet no other POW was a witness to these accounts.
A former POW says, "No man witnessed another man during interrogations. ... We relied on each other to tell the truth when a man was returned to his cell."
The Navy says two eyewitnesses are required for any award of heroism. Only McCain and his captors witnessed the behavior for which the awards were granted.
Our POWs in Vietnam were treated appallingly. The Viets would either break a POW or kill him. POWs provided information beyond name, rank and serial number or they didn't come back.
Based on these stalwart men's horrific experiences, the Code of Conduct has been changed. Now troops are trained to give (the enemy) something and not "to risk permanent damage to health, mind or body."
McCain refused an early release. An act of valor? Three former POWs told me he was ordered to turn it down by his U.S. POW commander, and he "just followed orders."
McCain certainly doesn't appear to be a war hero by conventional standards, but rather a tough survivor whose handlers are overplaying the war hero card.
The assumption was that mccain was tortured in NV. Where is the evidence? The late COL Hackworth sheds some light.
I know a lot of older freepers have mixed emotions regarding COL Hackworth but his military record speaks for itself. His comments regarding mccain seem to have eluded FR’s archives.
No one could see through Bravo Sierra more quickly than Hack.
That said, being a military hero doesn't mean you aren't a dick, and McCain was definitely a dick.
Depends on whose military you’re referencing.
The media built him up into a war hero to give him credibility. I mean who dare challenge a Republican “war hero” bashing his own.
Being a POW does not in itself make one a “war hero.” One has no choice in the matter.
Not on my list, did not like him, did not respect him and hope he is soon long forgotten.
You have to define “hero”. Clearly anyone who took the oath and went into harms way and acted honorably is deserving of respect. However if the term “hero” is reserved for extraordinary feats, then it is perhaps used a bit too freely.
One.
Less.
Rino.
Small man.
Bitter man.
Next...
McCain was against torture because he knows it works.
McStain was a zero; not a hero.
McCain was bitter, taking out his resentment on others because of his guilt, he knew the truth. When there’s such deep resentment and bitterness this is usually the case. Attack others to sooth your guilt.
Didn’t ‘Hack’ die about a year (give or take) before McCain ran for President?
How convenient.
I have heard rumors and more rumors. I also have read that McCain and John Kerry manipulated the government to keep their records private. If he deserves honoring I want him to have it but many a good person came back from Vietnam that was treated like shit. I did not like it then and even today I hate the bastards and bitches that treated them that way. Irregardless it behooves our nation to present all of McCains records for the world to see before making him out a hero.
It appears a lot of Officers created their own medals and the real fighters had to earn theirs.
Plus not mentioned is that most of the damage that McShamey endured resulted from his aircraft crash
He didn’t acquit her myself honorably
The Deep State has a way of hiding/losing documentation when it suits the interest of certain people. This applies to not just McCain but miscreants like Senator Edward Kennedy as well.
I miss Hackworth........;(
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