Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has died from brain cancer, after recently discontinuing treatment for the disease, at age 81. He had previously survived other cancers, including melanoma. Before entering politics, he had been a naval pilot who endured more than five years as a POW in Vietnam.
John Sidney McCain III was born at the Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the U.S. Panama Canal Zone, to John McCain Jr. and the former Roberta Wright. Both his father and his grandfather, John McCain Sr., were naval Admirals. Because his family moved around due to his father's military career, he attended about 20 schools. He graduated from a private boarding school in Alexandria, Virginia in 1954 and U.S. Naval Academy in 1958. He entered the Navy as an ensign and completed flight school in 1960. He was assigned to A-1 Skyraider squadrons aboard the USS Intrepid and USS Enterprise. He later flew A-4 Skyhawks based on the USS Forrestal. On July 29, 1967, his jet caught fire, after which a bomb exploded. The resulting fire killed 134 sailors and rendered the ship out of commission. In October of 1967, McCain's Skyhawk was shot down over Hanoi. He was taken to the prison camp known as the "Hanoi Hilton", where his captors at first would not treat his injuries. He was imprisoned, beaten and tortured, but eventually transferred to another prison and given some marginal medical care. He refused to allow the North Vietnamese to release him until everyone captured before him was released. He remained a POW until his released on March 14, 1973. After undergoing treatment for his injuries and attending the National War College, he served as a commander of a training squadron in Florida. He retired from the Navy as a captain in 1981 and moved to Arizona.
In 1982, McCain successfully ran for Congress and served in the House of Representatives for two terms. In 1986, he was elected to the Senate, where he served until his death. His most noted legislative achievement was the campaign finance reform act known as McCain - Feingold. In 2008, he was nominated to run for president by the Republican Party, losing to his fellow senator, Barrack Obama (D) of Illinois.
McCain was married twice, first to Carol Shepp, a model from Philadelphia who was injured in a car accident while he was in Vietnam, and later to Cindy Lou Hensley, a teacher from Phoenix and heir to a large beer distributorship. He adopted his first wife's two sons and also had a daughter with her. He and his second wife had three children together and adopted a girl from Bangladesh. McCain is survived by his wife, his ex-wife, his children, and his mother.
Read more at the New York Post, CNN, The Hill, Politico and AZ Central.
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