John McCain has succumbed to brain cancer at the age of 81. One of the most powerful voices in the U.S. Senate, with a big personality and an enormous commitment to his country, his shoes will be very hard to fill.
McCain’s life was very much defined by his military career and experience. He graduated in 1958 from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, both his father and grandfather having been academy graduates and four-star admirals.
Among the most defining events of his life was his October 1967 capture and subsequent 5 ½ year imprisonment after being shot down over North Vietnam. He was held in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton,” kept in solitary confinement for two years, and regularly beaten and tortured until his release in March of 1973. Despite his severe injuries, however, he would not accept the early release offered him by his North Vietnamese captors, refusing repatriation before POWs captured before him were released. He retired from the navy in April 1981 as a captain, having received a bevy of military distinctions: the Silver Star, 2 Legion of Merits, the Distinguished Flying Cross, 3 Bronze Star Medals, 2 Purple Hearts, 2 Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and the Prisoner of War Medal.
