On July 29, 1967, McCain, by then a lieutenant commander, was near the epicenter of the USS Forrestal fire. He escaped from his burning jet and was trying to help another pilot escape when a bomb exploded;[28] McCain was struck in the legs and chest by fragments.[29] The ensuing fire killed 134 sailors and took 24 hours to control.[30][31] With the Forrestal out of commission, McCain volunteered for assignment with the USS Oriskany, another aircraft carrier employed in Operation Rolling Thunder.[32] Once there, he would be awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and the Bronze Star for missions flown over North Vietnam.[33] Prisoner of war
McCain's capture and subsequent imprisonment began on October 26, 1967. He was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi.[34][35] McCain fractured both arms and a leg ejecting from the aircraft,[36] and nearly drowned when he parachuted into Trúc Bạch Lake.[34] Some North Vietnamese pulled him ashore, then others crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and bayoneted him.[34]
McCain was then transported to Hanoi's main Hỏa Lò Prison, nicknamed the "Hanoi Hilton".[35]
Although McCain was badly wounded, his captors refused to treat his injuries, beating and interrogating him to get information; he was given medical care only when the North Vietnamese discovered that his father was a high-ranking admiral.[37] His status as a prisoner of war (POW) made the front pages of major newspapers.[38][39]
McCain spent six weeks in the hospital while receiving marginal care.[34] By then having lost 50 pounds (23 kg), in a chest cast, and with his gray hair turned white as snow,[34] McCain was sent to a different camp on the outskirts of Hanoi[40] in December 1967, into a cell with two other Americans who did not expect him to live a week.[41] In March 1968, McCain was put into solitary confinement, where he would remain for two years.[42]
In mid-1968, John S. McCain Jr. was named commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater, and the North Vietnamese offered McCain early release[43] because they wanted to appear merciful for propaganda purposes,[44] and also to show other POWs that elite prisoners were willing to be treated preferentially.[43] McCain turned down the offer; he would only accept repatriation if every man taken in before him was released as well.
