Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine accepts The American Legion Distinguished Service Medal for Sen. John McCain on behalf the McCain family on Day 1 of The American Legion 101st National Convention at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Ind., on Tuesday, August 27. Photo by Ben Mikesell/The American Legion

McCain receives Legion’s highest award

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is the newest member of The American Legion’s most prestigious list of award recipients. McCain, who spent five and a half years as a prisoner in the Vietnam War before launching a long and distinguished political career, which included two presidential candidacies and one Republican nomination, posthumously received The American Legion’s Distinguished Service Medal Tuesday during the organization’s 101st National Convention.

Accepting the award for the McCain family was Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a personal friend of McCain, who was a 38-year member of American Legion Post 2 in Tempe, Ariz., before he passed away last August.

DeWine and McCain were in the same freshman class of House members in 1982. “We were friends,” DeWine told thousands of Legionnaires at the Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis. “And it was very clear to me early that he was someone special. He was different, a true leader.”

Gov. DeWine reflected on McCain’s captivity during the Vietnam War, how he would regularly be dragged away for beatings and torture and then sent back to his cell. “John knew that the other POWs were looking at him. In spite of the beatings and torture, he gave the sign, the thumbs up, to give hope and encouragement to the others.” He mentioned that when McCain was offered early release, he declined until all other Americans were freed, as well.

The Ohio governor, son of a World War II combat veteran and former American Legion post commander, praised McCain’s political courage and willingness to take up unpopular positions on issues, always “with a clear vision of America’s place in the world.”

On one presidential campaign visit to Ohio, DeWine’s father – in declining health – came to meet the Arizona senator and former POW. “He looked at John and said, ‘You’re my hero.’ John McCain remains my hero. Country above self. His firm conviction that we all have an obligation to be part of something bigger than ourselves … continues to sustain me and continues to inspire me.”