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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
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“On Oct 26, 1967, here at Truc Bach lake, people and troops of Hanoi capital have captured alive John Sidney McCain, the US major who piloted his A4 bomber that had been shot down over the Yen Phu Power Plant. This is one of the ten bombers that had been shot down in the same day”
Above is the Vietnamese translation of the inscription on the monument over Truc Bach lake — the exact spot where McCain’s plane was struck by an anti-aircraft missile this same day 40 years ago during the Vietnam War. Every day, thousands Hanoi residents passed by this historic spot but it is hard to think if any of them ever remember that American enemy.
That day, McCain broke both arms and a leg after ejecting from his plane into this lake. After he regained consciousness, a mob gathered around him, spat on him, kicked him and stripped him of his clothing. He was then tortured by soldiers from North Vietnam, who crushed his shoulder with the butt of a rifle and bayoneted him in his left foot and abdominal area. He was then transported to the Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the "Hanoi Hilton".
Once McCain arrived at the prison, he was placed in a cell and interrogated daily. When McCain refused to provide any information to his captors, he was beaten until he lost consciousness. When it was discovered his father was the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command, commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam, he was offered a chance to return home. McCain turned down the offer of repatriation due to his belief in the principle of "first in, first out": he would only accept the offer if every man taken in before him was released as well.
John McCain spent much of his time as a prisoner of war in solitary confinement, where he was denied necessary medical treatment and often beaten by the North Vietnamese. Military record shows his prison time in Vietnam for five and a half years.
In April 2000, John McCain returned to the city where he spent time as a prisoner of war, paying a visit to the lake he was dragged from after being shot down at the height of the Vietnam War. McCain, wife Cindy and son Jack walked along the bustling sidewalk that borders Hanoi's Truc Bach lake where over 3 decades ago he landed in the lake after ejecting from his F4A Navy jet, which was crippled by a surface-to-air missile. This time, he was greeted as a friend by Vietnamese who crowded around and shook his hand at the small sidewalk memorial shown in this photo — a very different greeting from the one he received 40 years ago.
For the story in his own words:
The almost unbelievably cruel treatment (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6).
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