Via a Freedom of Information Act request, the Associated Press has obtained Naval records regarding John McCain's Vietnam service. I find it interesting that this new information didn't come from the McCain campaign. Here's a summary:
From his five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp to his tenure as the Navy's liaison to the Senate, John McCain's Navy record boils down to a series of unadorned paragraphs that bestow upon him some of the nation's top military honors.
The Navy recently released McCain's military record — most of it citations for medals during his Navy career — after a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.
McCain was awarded a Silver Star Medal for resisting "extreme mental and physical cruelties" inflicted upon him by his captors from late October to early December 1967, the early months of his captivity, according to the citation. The North Vietnamese, according to the Navy, ignored international agreements and tortured McCain "in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes."
McCain, now the Republican Party's likely presidential nominee, was taken prisoner in October 1967 after he was shot down while on a mission over Hanoi.
He wasn't freed until March 1973, after the United States signed peace agreements with the North Vietnamese.
His captors tortured him and held him in solitary confinement.
Still, he declined an offer of early release until those who had been at the prison longer than him were let go.
Full story here. And another thing: when McCain returned he didn't toss his medals over the White House fence like another returning soldier did.
