By CARL CAMPANILE
August 31, 2007
Trying to revive his presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain released a video yesterday touting his storied military service - including extensive footage of him as a badly injured Vietnam POW being interrogated by his captors.
The opening of the film shows grainy footage of a gaunt, 31-year-old McCain sitting up in a body cast.
"What is your name?" a Viet Cong officer asks.
"McCain," he answers, puffing on a cigarette.
McCain, a Navy pilot, was captured in October 1967 after his plane was shot down near Hanoi while on a bombing mission. He ejected and landed in a lake, breaking both arms.
A narrator's voice talks about McCain's leadership. "Most certainly, it is a matter of the heart. The heart to have humility. The heart to never surrender," the narrator says.
Of the top-tier candidates in either party, McCain is the only one to have served in the military.
Later in the video, McCain says Islamic extremism will be the struggle of the 21st century. "I, with considerable ego, say I'm the best prepared and qualified to meet this challenge," he says.
The video also includes interviews with McCain's mom and two colonels he served with.
"I'm the luckiest guy I've ever known," McCain says.
