War Hero McCain Forgets The Vietnamese Man Who Saved His Life

[QueenOfCalifornia]

Excuse me if this has been posted - I didn't see it if it was - I felt this is compelling and McCain and his Straight Talk crap needs to be addressed.

How war hero John McCain betrayed the Vietnamese peasant who saved his life
Last updated at 01:10am on 23rd March 2008

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.


Reunited: Senator McCain and his Vietnamese rescuer Mai Van On in Hanoi in 1996

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.

It is a snub Mr On took to his death.

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

He would say, 'Mr McCain has forgotten me.'

”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.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Full article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=542277&in_page_id=1811

[Lerkfish]

1. On's virtue is a reward in and of itself

if you believe in an afterlife, he has a reward there. If you don't, then On was an admirable human being and a lesson to us all.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

2. So, forgetting

this little man is the right thing to do? :shrug:

To forget such an act of kindness speaks loudly about the man who would be king.

[Lerkfish]

3. um, no. I wasn't commenting McCain, who was a royal dickhead.

I was commenting on the brave act itself. Just because you saved a dickhead's life who doesn't appreciate it does not minimize the virtuous act itself.

sorry if I wasn't clear.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

5. Oh...

Never mind...

I was in a mood anyway.

(I wondered since you are not the type to be so whacky....) :hi:

[Lerkfish]

6. heh, well, I am whacky sometimes, but mostly I'm just not clear

:)

[roguevalley]

18. all that is true but McCain owed a debt to this man that he blew off.

look at his sweet face. What a sad thing and what a marker to McCain's infinite evil. McCain has been quoted as saying "I will never forgive the gooks as long as I live." He flunked that lesson. Too bad. That little man didn't. God rest his soul.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. On is pretty inconvenient in the McCain as hero narrative

[Jacobin]

9. Yes. That part of the story needs to be redacted

[blondeatlast]

7. The dirt on McCain can't be resurrected enough. He's been my Senator since before I could vote

and I can't stand the thought he might be--seriously, I can't even think about it enough to type it.

K&R

[QueenOfCalifornia]

12. I feel

your pain.

Really.

Arizona is such a beautiful state but is represented by such dogdicks.

[FredScuttle]

8. I wonder if Mr. On is one of those "gooks" McInsane is always going on about

and how many here defend McInsane's use of that vile epithet.

[renegade000]

10. well to be fair

i haven't heard of an instance of him using the term recently. i would like to think he has learned and overcome his prejudices. of course, a story like this one does make me wonder whether his refusal to recognize the vietnamese who saved his life is a product of still-lingering prejudice.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

11. I have no

love for the Vietcong who tortured people - they were the worst of the worst - but I think McChimpy-McSame addresses all Vietnamese as "gooks"

I find the use of the word abhorrent.

It makes me feel like I need to shower after typing it.

[whistler162]

14. A slight correction, maybe.

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9075311/Viet-Cong - Vietcong = South Vietnam Guerilla force

It was likely the NVA, North Vietnamese Army, soldiers that tortured McCain during his imprisonment.

[FredScuttle]

19. delete

n/t

[FredScuttle]

24. The NVA were most likely the ones who tortured McCain in the Hanoi Hilton

but the Vietcong (NLF) were most certainly the militant guerilla arm of the North, not the South Vietnamese government

[whistler162]

25. You are also correct.

They where the guerrilla group located in South Vietnam so as I said unlikely to be the jailers of Senator McCain.

[FredScuttle]

26. But your post made it seem that the VC was a guerilla force supporting the South

n/t

[renate]

13. that's reprehensible

How could he not mention the man who saved his life in his autobiography?

What a turd. It must be awful to be such a small-minded person, to think that acknowledging that someone else risked their life to save his would somehow minimize The Legend of John McCain.

Mr. On, on the other hand, looks like a delightful person. Look at those kind eyes and that joyful smile.

[speedoo]

15. K&R, and bookmarked.

I was not aware of this. Thanks to the MSM, it's been set aside so that McCain's "hero" status can be promoted. Much like Bush's phony air force "service".

Thanks for posting.

[kskiska]

16. "I hated the gooks."

"I will hate them as long as I live." Although McCain said he was referring only to his prison guards, there are many reasons why his use of the word "gook" is offensive and alarming.

It is offensive because by using a racial epithet that has historically been used to demean all Asians to describe his captors, McCain failed to make a distinction between his torturers and an entire racial group.

It is alarming because a major candidate for president publicly used a racial epithet, refused to apologize for doing so and remains a legitimate contender.

Contrary to McCain's attempt to narrowly define "gook" to mean only his "sadistic" captors, this term has historically been used to describe all Asians. McCain said that "gook" was the most "polite" term he could find to describe his captors, but because it is simply a pejorative term for Asians, he insulted his captors simply by calling them "Asians" -- a clearly disturbing message. To the Asian American community, the term is akin to the racist word "nigger." A friend of mine, a white male Vietnam veteran, pointed out that veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, know how spiteful the term "gook" is. It has everything to do with labeling someone as "other," the enemy and yellow. McCain sent the message that all Asians are foreigners and remain forever the "other" and the enemy.

more…
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/hongop.shtml

[1776Forever]

17. Cold! Stone Cold! But I did find another Vietnamese man who says he was the one

who saved McCain - could there have been 2 men that did it? Here is another man who says he was the one who did it (?).

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2008/03/i_think_about_s.html&h=176&w=220&sz=7&hl=en&start=23&um=1&tbnid=uvIN3M7RAQp59M:&tbnh=86&tbnw=107&prev=/images%3Fq%3DJohn%2BMcCain%2Band%2Bman%2Bthat%2Bsaved%2Bhis%2Blife%2B%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

This was written by Nguyen Qui Duc who is a radio correspondent based in Hanoi. In 2003, he reported for FRONTLINE/World on how the war in Vietnam had affected his childhood. Over the years Duc has returned to his homeland as a journalist, reporting on the country's culture and establishing connections with writers and artists living in Vietnam. In "Looking For Home," Duc describes his journey as searching "for a bit of myself and for a country that always exists in my memory."

The Man Who Saved John McCain
BY Nguyen Qui Duc



ELECTION 2008

I think about Senator John McCain every day, because every day I walk my dog, Moto, around Truc Bach, or Bamboo Island Lake, not far from my house. It's just a 10-minute ride from downtown Hanoi.

The lake is where Navy pilot McCain went down in October 1967, during the height of the war in Vietnam. He was then, like other pilots, both a hated enemy, and a prize for the Hanoi leaders as they contemplated negotiating with Washington, DC.

During my walks, I often stop for a conversation with people around the lake. Few know about McCain's wartime story. Many who hang around the lake's cafes are too young -- born after the war against America. Then I come across a rather drunken old man who grabs me and shouts.

"I'm the one, I'm the one," Nguyen Dang Doanh keeps repeating. "I'm the one who jumped in with my comrades and plucked the American pilot McCain from this lake."

Nguyen Dang Doanh was 16 when McCain was shot down. He must have been a handsome young man. Now white-haired, he sits on the sidewalk outside his weather-stained apartment and drinks every afternoon. Competing with the annoying neighborhood loudspeaker, he tells me about his heroic moment.

[QueenOfCalifornia]

20. There was

a second man who helped get McCain to shore and helped On drag him to safety - They also kept the other villagers from beating and stabbing him

The reason for the anger at McCain?

He was flying napalm missions over them and was burning their people, kids, dogs, cats, chickens, pigs --- everything alive. They were pissed off.

[joshua777]

21. McCains Crashes

Which of the six planes McCain crashed was this?

Maybe you should check this out, is this the guy you want to lead in the destruction of your country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-cpkbZnvfU

[joshua777]

22. All You Need to Know about McCain

This is all you need to know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuTemj7fmUY&feature=related

[crimsonblue]

23. Many cultures would believe McCain owes this man a life-debt...

and by dishonoring the life debt, McCain is damned to eternal hell.. Enjoy the show with Hitler and Stalin, Johnny boy.

[samsingh]

27. more proof that mccain is truly a piece of crap