Washington – Peviously unseen footage emerged Thursday showing U.S. presidential candidate John McCain as a proud, stoic prisoner of war in Hanoi on the day he was released by his Vietnamese captors to the U.S. military.
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A former reporter from Swedish broadcaster SVT, 71-year-old Erik Eriksson, told The Associated Press he found the video in the network’s archives while researching a book he was writing about his experiences as a Vietnam War correspondent.
The footage was filmed by a North Vietnamese photographer with whom Eriksson had contracted to film the release of U.S. prisoners of war.
AP Television News acquired exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the SVT footage from March 14, 1973, and edited it into a 2 minute, 14 second video of a remarkable day in the life of the Republican candidate. SVT posted a 39-second clip on its Web site.
The AP footage begins with prisoners being led out of a Hanoi compound one by one, then climbing onto buses taking them to the handover area. Each prisoner is dressed in identical blue-gray long sleeved shirts and dark pants, and carries a beige jacket. Up to 16 U.S. POWs are seen.
McCain grimaces as he steps off a bus with other prisoners. He has a pronounced limp and needs to put both feet on the same step before proceeding but is not using crutches.
The prisoners stand in rows until a Vietnamese official calls their name. McCain, like other prisoners, briskly walks up to salute and shake hands with U.S. military officers. Although only 37, he has prematurely white hair. Then the prisoners are seen walking to a U.S. plane.
APTN kept to the chronological order of the video.
“This summer when I was preparing the release of my book we were putting together a DVD with some of my reports from Vietnam and then I thought, ‘I wonder if we have McCain here?'” Eriksson said.
Per Yng, head of SVT’s national news, confirmed that Eriksson found the film in the network’s archives. “It’s our material. So we can confirm its authenticity,” Yng said.
Yng could not confirm the exact date, but the AP was able to confirm the date by matching the footage with black and white AP photographs taken of the POW release.
Eriksson said he covered the Vietnam War for SVT as well as U.S. networks CBS and NBC. He explained that in February 1973, he was in Hanoi filming the release of the first American pilot prisoners, but had to return home to edit the film “because it was the first release that was sensational.”
“However, we knew that more prisoners would probably be released shortly, so we left a camera and lots of film with a North Vietnamese photographer and asked him to film all the releases of U.S. prisoners,” Eriksson said.
Eriksson could not recall the name of the Vietnamese cameraman and said he had not been in contact with him after finding the clip.
A Hero will always be a Hero
How can you compare the experience and knowledge of McCain with the complete lack of experience of Obama. Even Hillary would have been a far superior choice than Obama.
Very nice video. However, this is absolutely no reason over which to choose a President.
you can make the same comparison betweeen mccain and bush,. oh wait we did, in 2000 when they ran against each other. somehow the stupid inexperienced drunk guy still beat him.
Hey, I respect his service, but I don’t see how that qualifies him to be president. Somehow this election is about personalities and images when it should be about issues. Do yourself a favor and read McCain’s and Obama’s position papers — they both have them posted on their websites.
he deserves to be president he has earned it
On the contrary. The fact that he actually was a POW, suffered horrendously at the Vietnamese captors hands, and had an “epiphany” where he went from thinking only about himself to how to do good to others, as he said in his acceptance speech, is now VERIFIED and not complete rubbish. This man lived through Hell, came back, changed his persona, and is serving the public Leshmah. Barrack and his wife are latent Black militants, at least his wife is, and he has no proof of his moral strength and character. Au contraire, he went from being Muslim to Christian, Black to White, and flip flops more than Hillary. Whether he’s bad or good, he doesnt hold a candle to McCain and neither did Hilllary and neither does Biden.
to anon 4.46 5.18
Obama is there were he is ONLY because he is let me say it quietly nobody should hear…. black, otherwise he has nothing to show for he was a community organizer like pat buchaman wrote he was busy with mommy issues providing food stamps and rent subsidies for the people of chicago were he lived, does this qualify him to be president?
Mccain has been a war HERO – he stood up for his country – a 5 year, not a 5 day or a 5 week or a 5 month POW a 5 years POW – he still suffers today from the torture he recieved, he has been in senate a long time, he is a maverick, and experienced – I dont say he is the best qualified but from the 2 – he is the one that DESERVES to be the next President of the United States of America, and if you cant understand why between those 2 he is the one that deserves to be president then you need some real help.
He qualifies based on his voting record and exp. plus i might add hes a hero
5:18
Who cares what obama’s positions say? he was a first term senator with almost no voting record and 0 bills floated.
Besides, obama has flip flopped.
He is an experienced hero.
Community Organizer v.s. War Hero. Is this even worthy of a debate?
Mccain paid 5 years to be loyal to his comrades – Obama?
Mccain stuck to his policy even when it was clearly not popular- Obama?
Mccain went against his party when he felt he should – Obama?
you may not agree with him but you do the comparing.
Mccain is a man of principle, loyal to his country, and a man of his word, he knows the military AND knows the terrors of war.
What can you say about Obama?
former POW status won’t make someone qualified to be president- but the timing is good- today 9/11 is an emotional day – & this should stir up some emotion.
also to be noted- being a former POW, doesn’t disqualify him either. he’s been tested in tough & strenuos situations over a period of years & he came back whole & intact- in mind & spirit- he then went on to becoming a senator etc… these are qood qualities.
finally- in this country you become president by winning the election. that’s it. if the majority of the eclectorate wants him in, he’s in, otherwise he’s out. this is democracy- it’s a 2 way street. in gaza the majority of the people wanted hamas in power & they are in power as a result of the democratic process- a bad leader in this country is the result of poor judgement from the people who elected him. if the voters aren’t qualified- chances are the politician isn’t qualified- I personally don’t think either would make a great commander in chief, but mccain seems to me to be the lesser of the 2 evils
He looks so different! I can’t believe that’s him… he’s kind of good looking, especially compared to what he looks like today. However, I do think this is definitely a reason, and a factor to consider when deciding whom to vote for. How can you not acknowledge the physical pain and torture, and the years of his life he gave up for his country. He didn’t quit afterward either, but rather, continued serving his country. If you think that’s not worthy, or telling, there’s something wrong with you.
mccain praised obama this evneing at columbia and praised community organizers and even said he would welcome obama to a job in his cabinet
sitting in a military prison does not give you the experience necessary to run a country.
there really is no such thing as experience of running a country until you actually do it so neither candidate can claim they have taht kind of experience
Student
453pm
you can call Pres. Bush all the names you want, but he is a two term president of the United States, who graduated with high grades (higher than Kerry’s) from Yale Business School. I dont know if you ever heard of Yale in your corner of BP, but let’s just say it’s a place with a lot of really smart people!
i wouldn’t vote for someone just because he joined the army.
i wouldn’t vote for someone just because his plane was shot down.
i wouldn’t vote for someone just because he was a prisoner for 5 years.
these don’t necessarily make a good president.
i would vote for someone who has shown loyalty in the past.
i would vote for someone who has shown self sacrifice for others.
i would vote for someone who has responsible principles and stands up for them.
there is only one candidate that has shown good character and trust.
some people are worried what happens if Mccain is elected and dies in office. others are worried what happens if Obama is elected and doesn’t die in office!
11:39,
Actually bush has both a MBA and a Law degree, it was a special law / business program. Bush’s graduating class are the current CEO’s of fortune 500 company’s v’chulu.
Thats including the fact that bush was first governer of Texas..
Hillary claims that being the wife of president counts.. and bush was the son of a president, grandson of a senator.. brother a governer.. dont you think he knows a shtikel?
VOTE SMART
McCain Palin for President
IMHO-Obama lost his steam along time ago-He’s a low life like the rest-First his middle finger to Hillary which was all over the net as clear as day-then calling Palin a pig with lipstick…I mean this is in middle of his compaign…It scares the hell outta me thinking about him for prez.
Like Lock & Load Says:
VOTE SMART
Mcain is the best candidate.Barack Hussein is a nothing.