Wow - someone is off their meds... NO ONE is "ignoring" the other 2500 POWs. McCain was considered a hero because he refused to jump the line to be released early as a POW which the North Vietnamese would have done because his father was a member of congress. I think most POWs respect that.

BTW: sadly for our democracy MOST of our representatives have bought their way in to the ranks of congress. McCain tried to do something about that by working with the dems to pass the McCain Feingold Act which limited big-dollar contributions. Now, of course, the Supreme Court has ruled that "businesses are people" and that "money is speech" so big corporations, organizations (such as unions) and billionaires can but all the politicians they want.

National Park Ranger stands before the statue of the Minuteman at Minuteman National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts.
The statue cast from seven left over civil war cannons, was dedicated in 1875, one hundred years after the start of the American
Revolution. The sculptor was a young 23 year old named Daniel Chester French. French was also the creator of the seated Abraham
Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.


The base of the Minuteman Statue is inscribed with the words "By the rude bridge their flag to April's breeze unfurled. Here once
the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world."
The verse is part of a poem known as the Concord Hymn written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I enjoyed all 24 or so minutes of the flight. On the Oshkosh pic, Fond du Lac is in the foreground - we took off from Appleton. My parents winter in Venice, FL. If you're an EAA member and you pre-book, it's $409, $435 on site, but they usually sell out. If you're not an EAA member you can still buy a ticket, but it's more expensive ($30 or $40), but includes a one-year membership. EAA has several subsections each with different additional subscription rates, magazines, etc, like Warbirds, Vintage, Homebuilt, Seaplane - probably one or two others. I have a couple of Oshkosh posting up now and am processing more now. I have one pic done, but want to have several at once. Before fighter escort the average B-17 lasted only 7 missions and, per sortie, the loss rate was like 30%.

While taking the walking trail around NAS Whidby Island WA the other day, an eagle was just sitting on a pole next to the bay. Not affected by people or a/c, he seemed pretty well adapted to the numerous on-goings around him. Even the jet noise of jets taking off & landing didn't bother him which was not more than 100 yards from the end of the runway. The walking trail is directly off the end of the runway as can be seen by the F-18 on its take off roll. Loud, mighty loud.....JPG's straight out of the camera