From an Old Friend

Here's an interesting letter from a former POW who was in Hanoi with John McCain. I'll let you dig out your own reference to Phil Butler and his comments which this rebuts. I know Joe Crecca. He was two classes behind mine in AF pilot training. We met in the squadron halls on a daily basis and we shared a few beers on Friday nights. He went to a back-seat F-4 Phantom assignment upon graduation and while I finished my first Vietnam combat tour in early November, he was only half-way through his when he got nailed deep in North Vietnam. He was in prison from 1966 until 1973. He knows John McCain well.

As a former POW in North Vietnam I must respond to Phil Butler's very misleading article entitled, "Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain"

The timing of this article is very telling. While the Democrats are at each other's throats for the nomination, Sen. McCain's numbers are rising vs. either opposing candidate. Could this be a reason for the timing of this article?

Most of what Mr. Butler alleges about Senator McCain is the distant past. Those were in his college days so long ago. Mr. Butler wants us to believe nothing has changed over the course of the last 50 years.

Mr. Butler states that we had "Our own seniority system, based on time as a POW." Not true. Date of rank was what determined seniority. Can anyone honestly believe that a 1st Lt. should be senior to a colonel just because he was captured on an earlier date than the senior officer? Pretty bizarre.

John Sidney McCain was shot down 26 OCT 67. Mr. Butler had his dates wrong. As far as the Vietnamese [communists] stopping torture in September, 1969 I wish someone would have told them, Contrary to Mr. Butler's statements that "rudimentary health care" started at that time, the reality is that we were getting a modicum of health care all along. I was taken to a dentist in 1967. One POW got Penicillin shots in 1968. Another POW got the "Rexall Award" for consuming more medications than anyone else. POWs were treated for Hepatitis, ringworm and intestinal worms. More stories abound. Many suffered for long periods without medical or dental attention, too. But it was not that one-sided.

Mr. Butler tries to paint a picture of John McCain being made out by the media to be the only "hero POW" and somehow that this was to "further his political goals." I fail to see how this could possibly be true since the vast majority of the news media is no friend of conservatives, even moderates like John McCain. Besides that, prominent conservative radio talk show hosts and television show hosts have incessantly criticized Senator McCain for his moderate conservative views.

The case in point is that John Sidney McCain WAS tortured to a far greater extent than many other POWs. The enemy knew of his family hierarchy and therefore what a propaganda bonanza it would be for them if they could turn him to their ends.

When John Sidney McCain was shot down both his arms and one of his legs were broken. He landed in a lake in the capitol city of Hanoi and sank into 20 feet of water. Despite his severe injuries he managed to propel himself to the surface, catch a breath and sank back to the bottom. With one more courageous attempt, his last, he paddled and flopped back to the surface again, this time being hauled unceremoniously into a boat by Vietnamese that saw his first surfacing attempt.

Later, in his captivity, after his limbs had at least partially healed the communists re-broke one of his arms when he refused to comply with their propaganda plans for him. These acts alone paint a far different picture of John McCain's courage and character than Phil Butler would have you believe. The next point of contention is that Mr. Butler conveys a picture of most new POWs "arriving with broken bones and serious combat injuries." This was not my experience. Some POWs did have serious wounds but most arrived in camp with none or minor injuries. Witness the fact that all of the sick and wounded POWs went home in the first group of one-fourth of all POWs held in Hanoi. And not nearly all of that group of about one hundred were categorized as "sick and wounded". Less than 10% died in captivity with many of those occurring in prison camps outside Hanoi in camps in South
Vietnam where conditions were even harsher than in Hanoi.

Mr. Butler states that POWS would "refuse early release" because "we were bound by service regulations, Geneva Conventions and loyalties". What he does not say is that twelve POWs, in four groups of three, did accept early release. Only one of these did so without stigma and that was Seamen Apprentice Douglas Brent Hegdahl who had the misfortune of falling overboard from the U.S.S. Canberra on April 5, 1967. In fact, Doug was ordered by the senior ranking POW, Gen. John P. Flynn, to accept early release, if offered, and to take with him as much intelligence information as he could. I know this first-hand because I taught Doug the names of 252 POWs, the names and locations of several prison camps and other useful information. Doug was
released A August 5, 1969 and brought home 272 names (he added 20 more after we were separated) thus bringing relief to several POW families when their loved one's status was changed from MIA to POW. The other eleven POWs are looked down upon by the rest of us who stayed the course.

The fact is that many of us, including myself, were offered early release. But it came with a price that only those few paid. The difference between somebody like me and somebody like John McCain accepting such a dishonorable deal was that my early release would not have made nearly as big a propaganda splash as an admiral's son. That's why John McCain was tortured far more than any of the rest of us. In fact, with respect to an early release, I was not tortured at all simply because, compared to John McCain, I was small potatoes. His Dad was an 4-star admiral. Mine was a bus
driver.

As far as John McCain's POW experience not qualifying him for President of the United States I would ask what either of his political opponents in the Democrat Party possess that qualifies either of them. One democrat candidate is a former First Lady and now a senator who has passed no major legislation. The other candidate is a first term senator that has spent half of his four-year career campaigning for president. John McCain has been in public office for over 25 years, more than both their tenures combined. Neither of his opponents have demonstrated leadership qualities and both have serious baggage problems. I would place my trust in John McCain well before either of the other candidates for the highest office in
the land.

And why does Mr. Butler wish to connect the issue of a hot temper with a finger on the red (nuclear) button? Because he's desperate to place doubt in the reader's mind about the stability of John McCain. Fifty years have passed since Mr. Butler's accusations toward his Annapolis roommate. What about the frog you ran over with your tricycle, Phil? Are you still so cruel?

Finally, Mr. Butler shows his true colors and the real reasons behind his open, rash and mostly untrue allegations against Senator McCain when he says McCain supports "Bush's war in Iraq" further blaming the current administration for its "entrenched and bankrupt policies". He criticizes Senator McCain's views on many popular issues and ties him again to President Bush. So, that's what it is. Mr. Butler is a democrat. He supports democrat policies and decries those of the Republicans. This is the real reason why Phil Butler says he will not vote for John McCain.

Joe Crecca
POW, North Vietnam
22NOV66-18FEB73