A small monument next to Truc Bach Lake celebrates the downing of McCain’s plane. “The citizens and military caught Pilot John Sidney McCain,” the statue’s engraving says. “This was one of 10 aircraft shot down that same day.”
But in the days after McCain’s death, this monument has been transformed into a makeshift shrine. Admirers have been laying flowers, incense and money at the statue. The US Embassy in Hanoi laid a wreath there.
“We’re not American,” says a South African tourist, posing next to the monument for a photo with his wife. “But we respect the man.”
After his capture, the North Vietnamese authorities brought the badly wounded McCain to Hoa Lo Prison. The former French colonial jail was infamously nicknamed by its American inmates the “Hanoi Hilton.”
McCain’s indelible mark on Vietnam can be seen on the walls of the prison where he once languished. Not far from pictures of him as a wounded POW, there is a photo of a smiling McCain on a tour of the museum in 2000.
The senator often stopped in to the “Hanoi Hilton” during more than 20 trips to Vietnam. On one of those visits, the former prisoner left a short message in the museum’s guest book. It reads:
MrMoose1 on
There’s something very surreal yet wholesome about this lol
Bigben1887 on
The duality of John McCain is insane. A true American hero who survived and overcame atrocities and held strong through unimaginable horrors. Only to grow old and become a scum bag politician who hurt Americans at every turn.
ResidentOvCarcosa on
“I hate the gooks, and will hate them as long as I live.”
-John McCain
4 Comments
A small monument next to Truc Bach Lake celebrates the downing of McCain’s plane. “The citizens and military caught Pilot John Sidney McCain,” the statue’s engraving says. “This was one of 10 aircraft shot down that same day.”
But in the days after McCain’s death, this monument has been transformed into a makeshift shrine. Admirers have been laying flowers, incense and money at the statue. The US Embassy in Hanoi laid a wreath there.
“We’re not American,” says a South African tourist, posing next to the monument for a photo with his wife. “But we respect the man.”
After his capture, the North Vietnamese authorities brought the badly wounded McCain to Hoa Lo Prison. The former French colonial jail was infamously nicknamed by its American inmates the “Hanoi Hilton.”
McCain’s indelible mark on Vietnam can be seen on the walls of the prison where he once languished. Not far from pictures of him as a wounded POW, there is a photo of a smiling McCain on a tour of the museum in 2000.
The senator often stopped in to the “Hanoi Hilton” during more than 20 trips to Vietnam. On one of those visits, the former prisoner left a short message in the museum’s guest book. It reads:
There’s something very surreal yet wholesome about this lol
The duality of John McCain is insane. A true American hero who survived and overcame atrocities and held strong through unimaginable horrors. Only to grow old and become a scum bag politician who hurt Americans at every turn.
“I hate the gooks, and will hate them as long as I live.”
-John McCain