Central Coast remembers Sen John McCain

“All gave some. Some gave all. McCain didn’t just give some. He just flat gave all,” John Gay said. Gay is the President of the Monterey County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee. He’s also a Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient.

Cleaning up the memorial, Monday, he calls Senator John McCain a hero. McCain served the United States in war and in Congress. As a prisoner of war, he stayed with the other POWs, even after being offered release.

“Most of us probably would have said, ‘I’m out of here,'” Gay said. “He felt
that it wasn’t his time to leave. He had to stay and support his fellow men.”

One of the other POWs with McCain was Salinas native Everett Alvarez, the namesake of Salinas’ Alvarez high school. He spoke about McCain on CNN over the weekend.

“As I recall, (he) always tried to do what’s was in the best interest of the country. No one is perfect. But the bottom line was he was devoted to that cause,” Alvarez said.

McCain leaves behind a void in Washington politics. U.S. Congressman Jimmy Panetta says McCain has been an inspiration. “He allowed other members in Congress, like myself, time to learn from his work, (and) from his sayings.”

With Panetta, Monday, a copy of McCain’s 2017 speech, given before casting the deciding “no” vote on repealing Obamacare. Panetta says he carries this speech as a bipartisan and civil servant reminder.

“I hope we can rely on humility, our need to cooperate. Depending on each other to
learn how to trust each other again,” Panetta read from the speech.

He says we need people like Senator McCain now more than ever. “It is easy to know what’s right. That it’s more difficult to do what’s right. But John McCain did that. And we need to learn from that.”

Flags were at half-staff for McCain at the Vietnam Memorial in Salinas. The Committee says 78 people from Monterey County gave the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War.