Prisoner of war
John McCain being pulled out of
Truc Bach Lake in
Hanoi and about to become a
prisoner of war.
[33] October 26,
1967.
On
October 26,
1967, McCain was flying as part of a 20-plane attack against a
thermal power plant in central
Hanoi, a heavily defended target area that had previously been off-limits to U.S. raids.
[34][35] McCain's
A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by a Soviet-made
SA-2 anti-aircraft missile
[35] while pulling up after dropping its bombs.
[36] McCain
fractured both arms and a leg in being hit and ejecting from his plane.
[37] He nearly drowned after he parachuted into
Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi.
[34] After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around him, spat on him, kicked him and stripped him of his clothing.
[38] Others crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area; he was then transported to Hanoi's main prison.
[38] Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to put him in the hospital, deciding he would soon die anyway. They beat and interrogated him, but McCain only offered his name, rank, serial number, and date of birth.
[38] Only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a top admiral did they give him medical care
[38] and announce his capture. At this point, two days after McCain's plane went down, that event and his status as a POW made the front page of
The