Page 5 - August 1968 News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

August 1968, anna chennault touches down in saigon. south vietnam's wartime capital. mrs. chennault feared that south vietnam would be the next domino to fall to the communists. unless america held the line against communist north vietnam. and now anna had come to join the struggle as richard nixon's secret agent. >> i went with her on one of her trips to saigon. we stayed at the hotel caravel downtown where most of the reporters were staying. it's a weird atmosphere from the hotel restaurant on top. you could see flares on the edge of the city. bright lights in the night sky. bombs and so on....

August 1968. anna chennault touches down in saigon. south vietnam's wartime capital. mrs. chennault feared that south vietnam would be the next domino to fall to the communists. unless america held the line against communist north vietnam. and now anna had come to join the struggle. as richard nixon's secret agent. >> i went with her on one of her trips to sigen. we stayed at the hotel caravel downtown where most of the reporters were staying. a weird atmosphere from the hotel restaurant on top. you could see flares on the edge of the city. bright lights and the night sky. bombs and so on. the...

Him, help him to survive. the things that you would have to do in a hospital for someone who's near death, with a bucket of water and maybe a sponge. >> by august 1968, mccain couldn't take it anymore. >> he signed a statement that he was an american black, you know, air pirate, et cetera, and admitted to their claims against him. >> how much did that moment, the vietnamese breaking him, affect him from there on out? >> look, i think he wanted to die. i think he felt that he had let the honor slip away from him. he felt shame, that he had let the country down, he had let his father down, his f...

Him, help him to survive. the things that you would have to do in a hospital for someone who's near death, with a bucket of water and maybe a sponge. >> by august 1968, mccain couldn't take it anymore. >> he signed a statement that he was an american black, you know, air pirate, et cetera, and admitted to their claims against him. >> how much did that moment, the vietnamese breaking him, affect him from there on out? >> look, i think he wanted to die. i think he felt that he had let the honor slip away from him. he felt shame, that he had let the country down, he had let his father down, his f...

>> for mccain, it was his duty. the p.o.w.s code of conduct called for release in th order of capture. there was dozens ahead of mccain. >> there was a correlation between my refusal to accept early release and my treatment. the treatment got very much worse. >> what followed was months of non-stop beatings, hanging from his wrists, solitary confinement. at one point, mccain says he was even beaten by ten guards at a time. >> his fellow prisoners literally had to feed him, right? >> they did. they had to bathe him, cleanse him, help him to survive the things that you would have to do in a hosp...