SONS and DAUGHTERS of BBCMF War Veterans of All Service Branches That Served or Now on Active Duty.

[NYBob]

Former Prisoners of War Rally Behind McCain -

By David Nitkin, Baltimore Sun
September 3, 2008

Article Excerpts:

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- John McCain's years in a Vietnamese prison camp forged connections with soldiers that are paying dividends as he enters the final stage of his campaign for president.

Fellow prisoners, including some who now live in Maryland, have become outspoken advocates of the Arizona senator, sharing McCain's life story at a convention designed in part to impress undecided voters who may not be well-versed in the candidate's background.

"We drew our strength from each other," Everett Alvarez Jr., a resident of Potomac who was held in captivity longer than all but one serviceman, said yesterday. "Those are the same principles that John McCain practices now. He always maintains service to country over self."

Alvarez, 70, a deputy secretary in the Veterans Administration during the Reagan administration, has been attending Republican conventions for years. But this is the first time he has been a delegate, part of the Maryland contingent that is casting votes for McCain this week.

The McCain campaign rests on an image of the senator as a maverick willing to buck his party, and a leader who has the experience to fulfill the duties of the office. Those images, in large part, have their roots in his war record.

A Naval Academy graduate and son of an admiral, McCain was a fighter pilot whose plane was shot down over Hanoi in 1967. He was held for 5 1/2 years, including two in solitary confinement.

The experience has shaped his outlook, according to McCain and those who know him.

"I gained the insight, common to many people in life-threatening circumstances, that the trivial pleasures of life and human vanity were transient and insignificant," McCain wrote in Faith of My Fathers, his 1999 memoir. "And I resolved that when I regained my freedom, I would seize opportunities to spend what remained of my life in more important pursuits."

McCain's character, said Alvarez, is reflected in the fact that he rejected early release because there were other prisoners held longer.

"Character counts," he said. Like McCain, Alvarez said he rejected the chance to go home early, because "my conscience would not let me live with myself."

Sen. John Kyl of Arizona said McCain "understands that standing up for what's right and standing up with your friends, at the end of the day, is the most important thing you can do."

McCain also learned as a POW that "life is short," Kyl said after speaking to Maryland convention delegates yesterday. "He wants to make a difference. And I think that is why you see him so anxious to reform Washington."

Another POW in the Maryland delegation is Michael Cronin, a Navy officer shot down in 1967. During the 2004 election, Cronin joined efforts to discredit John Kerry's military service, creating a group called Vietnam EXPOWS.

McCain "embodies the qualities of honor, integrity, loyalty and courage that are part of our nation's military tradition," said Cronin, in a statement, when he endorsed the senator. He graduated from Annapolis five years after McCain and now lives in Gaithersburg. . . .

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-te.pow03sep03,0,1950258.story

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/29/rnc.schedule/index.html

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Multimedia/

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=13109

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