Russian who shot down John McCain should be given a medal, say Communists
They have hailed as a hero Yury Trushyochkin, 70, a former Soviet officer who claimed last week to have fired the missile which brought down Mr McCain's plane as it flew over a bridge near Hanoi in 1967.
Mr Trushyochkin served in a mixed Soviet-North Vietnamese missile unit during the Vietnam war, which was guarding the bridge near a power plant under attack from a 20-strong strike force whose pilots included Mr McCain. The Soviet-made missile blew off a part of one wing of Mr McCain's plane and he ejected upside down moments before it crashed - suffering injuries which have plagued him ever since.
"This sincere Cold War hero is now living in St Petersburg and thinks he simply did his duty," the St Petersburg Communist group declared. "But in reality he defended the USSR and Russia, helping to guard socialism in Vietnam and teach a lesson to the future Number One enemy of Russia."
In an interview last week Mr Trushyochkin told a tabloid newspaper that he had been responsible for firing the missile, and had glimpsed Mr McCain soon after he was pulled from the lake in which he landed. "His hands were covered in blood and he was in a state of shock," he said.
The American, who failed in his attempted to run for the White House earlier this month, spent more than five years as a prisoner of war, and Mr Trushyochkin said he was glad he lost to Barack Obama.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
Mr Trushyochkin served in a mixed Soviet-North Vietnamese missile unit during the Vietnam war, which was guarding the bridge near a power plant under attack from a 20-strong strike force whose pilots included Mr McCain. The Soviet-made missile blew off a part of one wing of Mr McCain's plane and he ejected upside down moments before it crashed - suffering injuries which have plagued him ever since.
"This sincere Cold War hero is now living in St Petersburg and thinks he simply did his duty," the St Petersburg Communist group declared. "But in reality he defended the USSR and Russia, helping to guard socialism in Vietnam and teach a lesson to the future Number One enemy of Russia."
In an interview last week Mr Trushyochkin told a tabloid newspaper that he had been responsible for firing the missile, and had glimpsed Mr McCain soon after he was pulled from the lake in which he landed. "His hands were covered in blood and he was in a state of shock," he said.
The American, who failed in his attempted to run for the White House earlier this month, spent more than five years as a prisoner of war, and Mr Trushyochkin said he was glad he lost to Barack Obama.