In Vietnam, war veterans follow McCain's White House bid

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

HANOI (AFP) — Four decades ago a young Vietnamese army sergeant, Nguyen Van Dai, launched the surface-to-air missile that downed John McCain's bomber jet from the skies above Hanoi.

The SAM blew off the right wing of the A-4 Skyhawk and sent the wounded McCain parachuting into a lake, starting his five-and-a-half-year ordeal as a prisoner of war, much of it in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton".

As the Republican senator now makes a run for the White House -- with his war heroism a central theme of his campaign -- Dai and other Vietnamese veterans said they held no rancour and even backed his presidential bid, citing his post-war efforts to restore diplomatic ties.

Others, however, bemoaned his apparent lack of remorse for bombing their country.

Dai...