Editor’s Note: John McCain died at the age of 81 on Saturday after a year-long battle with brain cancer. Below is a piece originally published by Truthdig on Oct. 7, 2008, when the Arizona senator was running for president as a Republican candidate.
John McCain’s personal account of his life has shaped a powerful political narrative that accords him deference on the full range of policy issues. His first effort at shaping that narrative received a remarkable boost when the May 14, 1973, edition of U.S. News & World Report gave him space for what is perhaps the longest article the magazine had ever run, a 12,000-word piece composed entirely of his unedited and often rambling account of his prisoner-of-war experience. Ever since, McCain has added compelling details at key points in his political career. When his stories are placed beside documented evidence from other sources, significant contradictions often emerge. One such case involves McCain’s experience in the devastating fire and explosions that killed 134 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal during the Vietnam War three months before he was shot down over North Vietnam. McCain has made claims about this accident that differ dramatically from parts of the official Navy report and accounts of reliable eyewitnesses.
In considering the 1967 catastrophe, it is important to note that the official report concluded that no individual bore responsibility for the fire or its spread. There are a number of conflicting accounts of the Forrestal accident, but here is the story as based on the strongest sources. The fire started at 10:51 a.m. Saturday, July 29, 1967, as 30-year-old Lt. Cmdr. John McCain sat on the port side of the Forrestal in his A-4 Skyhawk going through preflight checks. To his right was Lt. Cmdr. Fred White, also in an A-4 Skyhawk attack aircraft. A Zuni rocket on another airplane accidentally fired and flew across the flight deck, passing through White’s auxiliary fuel tank and falling into the ocean. Fuel spilled onto the deck from White’s craft and ignited. McCain told his biographer, Robert Timberg, and repeats in his own book, “Faith of My Fathers,” that the rocket hit his own plane and knocked two bombs from it into the burning fuel as he scrambled out of his cockpit and raced to safety across the deck.1
There was, in fact, a single bomb — not two — that dropped to the deck. It exploded 90 seconds after the fire broke out, intensifying the blaze until it raged out of control. White and Thomas Ott, McCain’s parachute rigger, were among the first to be killed instantly or mortally injured, along with most of the firefighting crew. McCain’s plane captain, Robert Zwerlein, was one of those who suffered fatal wounds at this point.
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25 comments:
McCain's dealings on the Forrestal and in the Keating 5 scandal among other things have always made me suspicious of his character. Still he would have been better than BO.
I don't know anything about any tragedy at sea but this funeral which McCain planned has turned into a circus. It needed to be over like yesterday but more is planned until Sunday. It's become worse then the Kennedy funeral show in 63.
No statues for him, or the naming of another ship, please.
Just bury the man already.
Shame on you Joe.
My uncle was on the USS FORRESTAL and always said John McCain was a true politician to the core. I never got the answer to my question of what do you mean by that he would say he's a true politician like I said. I know that he didn't like him at all but never said anything more than that.
Get Aretha and John McCain buried for pete sake so we can get back to business as usual.
Maybe they can rename the U.S. Navy's shipboard aircraft firefighting school after him.
More Dems and CNN paying tribute what does that say ?????
Comments are politically motivated and have little basis in truth. Sad that there are Americans among us who make decisions based on feelings with little attention to whether it is the truth. John McCain was not irresponsible when stationed on board the Forrestal. Military personnel who served with him do not share the opinion of those who never served with him.
How about a non profit linked too him got a $1 million from the Saudis ? So he would stop the 9/11 Families from suing them ? Mr Know it all.
He knew the REAL story behind Fireball McCain.
Shame on you for not liking the TRUTH.
Did you see the one soldier who Almost dropped the casket lol
This article proves Mcvain was a LIAR AND A COWARD.
This is an utterly shameful post. Those promoting this smear of an American hero and patriot prove their worth by perpetuating this lie. Most if not all of the posters here are nothing but lemming cowards that are not fit to shine Senator McCain's shoes. Shame on you Albero for putting this fake news up.
left his first wife and children, responsible for the death of fellow sailors, named songbird while in captivity, savings and loan scandal threw election to bummer. if it walks like a duck.........
hope he's enjoying the fire!
My husband served during the Viet Nam War and he knows along with Many other Nam Vets that McCain was a liar and a traitor. Peroid!!!
For 2:28, your comment is lacking at best...JFK was our President, NOT a traitor.
Bury McCain and be done with it. My prayer for him is that he made piece with God through Jesus Christ before he died. His traitorous activities continued until his death...
I wasn't there and I'm not a vet. But I can read.
Leaving ship without authorization is generally seen as AWOL, or worse. But getting flown off the ship unharmed for whatever reason is called what? Pretty fair bet whatever strings his father pulled weren't announced in Navy Times or Stars and Stripes.
McCain did a good job across the years of taking care of McCain.
Who is Mcvain?
He ditched a plane at the mouth of the bay flying into the long closed airfield at what is now the Eastern Shore Wildlife Refuge. He was a clown that never made Admiral when it was a done deal the day he enlisted in the Navy.
" Anonymous said...
Did you see the one soldier who Almost dropped the casket lol
August 30, 2018 at 4:53 PM"
Yes I did see that yesterday. They all looked to be struggling. McCain didn't appear to be a large man. I bet his computer servers and cells phones, and other devices are in that casket. Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Very sad comments by people that are motivated by political animosity. John McCain was an American hero. He did not make common cause with the likes of Vladimir Putin. He saw Russia for what it is, a country that is no friend of the United States. He was a conservative Republican not a reactionary motivated by hatred. He will rest among other heroes buried at the naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Did you see what he did too his First wife ? A real Hero I mean Zero.
Tell that to his first wife fool GOOGLE IT
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