John McCain ‘Sang Like a Canary’ to the North Vietnamese©

John McCain ‘Sang Like a Canary’ to the North Vietnamese©

Material Supplied by Colonel Ted Guy

John McCain’s SRO at the Plantation

Dedicated to the Memory of Ted Guy

15 April 2008

       Within the first four days of his capture, while in his initial interrogation (26-30 October 1967) at the Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi, and while recovering from his shootdown wounds in the North Vietnamese military hospital (31 October 1967 through mid-December 1967), John McCain provided military information far beyond that which the Code of Conduct – and that which other POWs, while undergoing extreme torture – refused to divulge to the enemy. Colonel Ted Guy, McCain’s Senior Ranking Officer (SRO) while they were both imprisoned at the Plantation prison complex in Hanoi, gathered information from various sources after the POWs were released in March 1973.

       This information comes from U.S. intercepts of North Vietnamese broadcasts to American servicemen in South Vietnam around 31 October 1967, as well as from dispatches by North Vietnamese and Cuban correspondents — using material from a Nhan Dan (the central organ, the voice of the Communist Party of Vietnam, then and now) correspondent who interviewed John McCain. This material was published on 9 November 1967.  The latter were backed up by the intercepts of these messages by the Message Center of the U.S. Department of Defense National Military Command Center, dated 11 November 1967..

       A separate interview of McCain by a Soviet Union correspondent was published by Pravda in Moscow on 8 December 1967. A copy of this interview is presented below. And finally, McCain was interviewed by a French correspondent who published a series of interviews announced on 25 December 1967 and began 27 December 1967. This interview was intercepted by the Message Center of the U.S. National Command Center and disseminated via message on 1 January 1968.

       Each of these official records of John McCain’s interviews with foreign correspondents, while held captive in Hanoi is reproduced below. Observe that every one of these interviews contains military information — far, far beyond the limits required by the Code of Conduct. Indeed this information is far beyond what nearly all of the POWs were severely tortured to obtain — the insignificant ‘gray area’ information such as nebulous ‘air pirate’ signed statements. Only those few who were turncoats and anti-war sympathizers among our POWs gave up more information to the enemy than did John McCain.

       Indeed, John McCain made good on his promise to his interrogator, ‘the Bug,’ to provide U.S. military information in return for medical attention to his shootdown wounds. See the essay, ‘John McCain as a POW’ for the context of this promise. These interviews are documented below.

The First Interview of McCain by North Vietnamese Interrogators

Resulted in the Following Propaganda Broadcast

31 October 1967

The Nhan Dan Interview Propaganda Broadcast

Was Featured in Hanoi as Well as Havana, Cuba

9 November 1967

The Text of the Interview by Nhan Dan

With John McCain

9 November 1967

The Department of Defense Military Command Center

Message Center Backup of McCain’s Interview with Nhan Dan

11 November 1967

McCain Interview with Soviet Union Correspondent

Moscow Domestic Service Propaganda Broadcast

8 December 1967

McCain Interview With French Correspondent

In Propaganda Series Beginning 27 December 1967

U.S. Military Command Center

Message Center

1 January 1968

                                                                                                 Return to: