In this grainy image, a U.S. Navy pilot is seen surrounded by North Vietnamese while being pulled out of Truc Bach Lake on October 26, 1967. The pilot's A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile while on a bombing mission over Hanoi. During ejection, the flier suffered fractures in both arms and one leg, nearly drowning upon impact.

After being dragged ashore, he was stripped, beaten and bayoneted by North Vietnamese soldiers before being confined in Hoa Lo Prison, better known as the "Hanoi Hilton". Surviving repeated torture, dysentery and over five years of captivity, two of which were in solitary confinement, the prisoner defied the odds of survival and was finally released on March 14, 1973.

The pilot's name? John Sidney McCain III, United States Senator and 2008 Republican presidential nominee.