Sen. John McCain Has Always Kept the Faith

  I wrote this column when I first learned that Sen. John McCain had inoperable brain cancer.  I hope it conveys the  respect and affection with which I hold this great American.
 
Sen. John McCain stands with his arms at an odd angle.  He moves them only by moving his whole shoulder.  His arms reach for objects by moving outward and then forward instead of in a normal forward flow.  

On October 26, 1967 a 31 year old John McCain was flying his 23rd bombing mission over North Vietnam.  He was shot down and ejected from the cockpit, but that is a violent act and he broke both arms and a leg upon impact with the ocean.  Those were not the wounds he suffers from today.  

The North Vietnamese who pulled him from the water deliberately crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and then bayoneted him.  He was transported to the Hanoi Hilton, the North’s primary prisoner of war camp.  There he was refused medical attention until it was discovered that his father was an Admiral in the United States Navy, and commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam.

            With this knowledge McCain became a high value prisoner, one who could be used for propaganda purposes.  Damaged, ill, sick and in pain, McCain was offered a chance to be released from the prisoner of war camp.  But John adhered to the military Code of Conduct, which said that officers were to be released in the order in which they were captured.  McCain would only agree to release if all officers captured prior to him were released as well.  

            In response to his refusal to be part of North Vietnamese propaganda efforts the Vietnamese set out to break him with torture.  He was bound with rope, suspended from bars so his weight was born by the sockets of his shoulders.  [This is similar to crucifixion, by the way, with the victim’s own weight making it hard to breathe.]  He was beaten, like clockwork, every two hours.  Eventually, he tried suicide.  Think about that.  This man was willing to take his own life, but he was not willing to get preferential treatment. 

            Having reached his breaking point he ultimately made an anti-American propaganda statement, which he still considers dishonorable.  Now think of that, this man admits to feeling shame because he wanted the pain to stop.  But he would not accept preferential treatment.  He refused to make any more such statements and the beatings continued.   

            John McCain’s wartime injuries have left him permanently incapable of raising his arms above his head. 

My movements are unencumbered.  I have not serve in the military.  I have never been beaten, never been threatened with imminent death, never faced peril, faced pain, faced disfigurement.  I have not had to face an enemy threatening me with imminent physical harm because of John McCain and all the men and women like him.  

My day today will be much like it was yesterday, while a warrior like Sen. McCain has to, once again, face the enemy.  
 
I pray for others.  Once I was asked if I really thought those prayers would help the recipient.  My response was that I don't know if they help whom I am pray for, but I know they help me.  And so I pray for John McCain. 
 
Dear Lord, please hold this man and his family close. 

God bless John McCain because he has repeatedly kept the faith.  

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