Portal:United States/Selected biography/18

John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and naval officer who represented the state of Arizona in Congress for over 35 years, first as a Representative from 1983 to 1987, and then as a U.S. senator from 1987 until his death in 2018. He was the Republican Party's nominee in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

McCain is a son of Admiral John S. McCain Jr. and grandson of Admiral John S. McCain Sr. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958 and received a commission in the U.S. Navy. McCain became a naval aviator and flew ground-attack aircraft from aircraft carriers. During the Vietnam War, he almost died in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. While on a bombing mission during Operation Rolling Thunder over Hanoi in October 1967, McCain was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture and refused an out-of-sequence early release. He sustained wounds that left him with lifelong physical disabilities. McCain retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona. (Full article...)