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For being a trouble-maker, not a future leader. >> i'm the guy that stood fifth from the bottom of his class at the naval academy. >> reporter: he became a fighter pilot. his first combat mission during the vietnam war was aboard the "uss forestal." on deck his plane was accidentally struck by a missile, causing a huge inferno. 134 fellow sailors died. a few months later, mccain was on a routine bombing mission and his plane was shot down. >> i was going straight down so i had to eject very quickly. i was knocked unconscious. >> reporter: he found himself surrounded by angry villagers. the nor...

Figures in his family, enrolling at the naval academy where he stood out for being a trouble-maker, not a future leader. >> i'm the guy that stood fifth from the bottom of his class at the naval academy. >> reporter: he became a fighter pilot. his first combat mission during the vietnam war was aboard the "uss forestal." on deck, his plane was accidentally struck by a missile, causing a huge inferno. 134 fellow sailors died. a few months later, mccain was on a routine bombing mission and his plane was shot down. >> i was gyrating very violently. almost straight down. so i had to eject very qui...

>> i don't think it was until the forestall which was miraculous that he survived that he began to take his military career seriously. >> it was july 29th, 1967, his first combat mission aboard the uss forestal, an aircraft carrier assigned to bombing missions over vietnam. >> all on the flight deck. >> a plane on the flight deck accidentally fired a missile which struck the fuel tank of the plane mccain was in. mccain escaped the deadly inferno, but others didn't. the fire spread across the ship's deck, killing 134 men, injuring hundreds of others, and destroying 20 planes. >> it was terrible...

John went back to the room and slept for two hours and we got up and he told everybody stories of his crash. >> i don't think it was until the stall that he began to take his military career seriously. >> it was july 29th, 1967, his first combat mission aboard the uss forestal, an aircraft carrier assigned to bombing missions over vietnam. a plane on the deck accidentally fired a missile which struck the fuel tank of the plane mccain was in. mccain escaped the deadly inf n inferno, but others didn't. the fire spread across the ship's deck. >> it was terrible. i'll never forget some hours

Flare and white knuckle political instincts. john sidney mccain, iii had been born in to a legacy of service to live up to, his father and grandfather were four star admirals. >> his father and grandfather instilled in him, a sense of duty, honor and country. >> young mccain's passion was literature and was a voracious leader all his life. >> hemmingway has been my favorite author in many ways and a larger than life figure that i always admired a lot. >> but mccain followed the path of larger than life figures in his own family. where he stood out at the naval academy as a troublemakerer rathe...