I feel, that as a veteran, and being the child of a WWII vet, I can say that...McCain, is no hero...
Now, I will be the first to admit, that I was a lousy soldier...hell, two weeks into basic training my dreams of being a career soldier were pretty much over...I think it happened the first time we sang a cadence song that had a line in it that went "All I wanna do is kill, kill, kill" yeah, at that time I realized, I was in the wrong place...however, I toughed out the next four years...I am proud of my accomplishments, earning Air Assault wings, serving in the vaunted 101st Airborne Division...to name a couple.
Jump below the fold with me to find out why John McCain is not a hero...from a Veterans viewpoint...
While I am proud of my accomplishments in the US Army...I am no hero...as a matter of fact, I was the worst possible soldier you could imagine...if I could figure a way to get out of work...I did it...how I ever got promoted to be an NCO is still beyond me...why I was put in charge of a 12 man engineer squad...also beyond me...all I wanted to do was get the the hell out...but, I digress...
Now, in my time in the Army, I met some men I would have followed into the gates of hell...SSGT Kennedy*, SFC McCoy, SSG Pena, SGT Mahon, SGT Casey, 1st LT Burnham and SGT Clemons...SSGT Kennedy, was a Vietnam Vet...he had a scar across his face from hand to hand combat in Vietnam...he was not a hero, and did not consider himself a hero...all of the NCO's I have listed above, were great leaders...they were natural born leaders...one of them, saved my life. He is not a hero either...none of them are...none of them think they are heros.
In my Dad's day, he knew a lot of Marines that were wounded on the islands of the South Pacific...they were not heros and did not consider themselves heros either...my own father, did not consider himself a hero...and he was not.
As a Vet, I did know heros, and my father knew heros...the true heros, are those that never came home...they made the ultimate sacrifice...
Heros are listed here...
The Wall
and here
Honoring the Rescuers
and here
Faces of the Fallen
I have a cousin who is a hero...he made the ultimate sacrifice last August...in Iraq...
John McCain...is not a hero...unlucky...yes, he was shot down...did he show courage as a POW, yes...but he is not a hero...at least not to me...he was shot down, and captured while doing his duty...nothing more, nothing less. He is not a hero, because he did not make the ultimate sacrifice...sorry, John, I honor your service, I respect your ordeal...however, in this veteran's eyes, you are not hero.
"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.
And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.
Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Listed as KIA February 7, 1978
*Names changed to protect identity