Election Finally Over

The election is finally over, thank God. However, Dale Gillis is still throwing rocks at John McCain and his running mate (Nov 27 letter). His comments about McCain watching the fire on the USS Forrestal on July, 1967, on TV and doing nothing are absolute nonsense.

What really happened was McCain was sitting in his A-4 on the flight deck awaiting takeoff on his fifth combat mission over North Vietnam when the incident occurred. The deck was full of armed, fueled planes. A Zuni missile on a nearby F-4 launched into McCain's plane, probably caused by a static electrical discharge.

McCain jumped from the plane into the fire from the burning fuel. He then ran to help a fellow pilot on the deck with a burning flight suit. McCain was knocked down by an exploding 1,000-pound bomb that killed many men. Despite burns and shrapnel wounds, McCain went to the ship's elevator to help throw bombs overboard before they exploded from the heat. He then went to the ready room to check on the fire's progress on a TV monitor.

There was nothing more that he could do. Then he went to the ship's hospital to be treated for his wounds, where he helped comfort the injured and dying. That is what really happened Mr. Gillis. Perhaps one of your TV "witnesses" was Jane Fonda?

Of course the terrible incident on the Forrestal was before McCain was shot down while flying his old and slow A-4 into the teeth of the best air defense system in the world -Hanoi. There, as Mr. Gillis failed to mention, John McCain, was severely injured, was tortured and tormented for five and a half years. When the North Vietnamese offered to release him because his father was the commander of the Pacific Fleet, McCain refused the offer knowing he faced more torture. Very few men possess that kind of courage.

Mr. Obama commented on McCain's bravery and war record. It is a shame Gillis feels the need to sully the reputation of a brave American fighting man and prisoner of war.

Robert K. Munsell
USAF Retired
Lake Placid