A Tale of Two POWs

By Randall Hoven

Remember James B. Stockdale? Maybe you remember him as Admiral Stockdale. He was Ross Perot's running mate in 1992. He was that old, white-haired guy whose first words of his first debate were, "Who am I. Why am I here?" And he had to adjust his hearing aid and ask for the question to be repeated. He got laughs when he wasn't supposed to.

Despite him being the senior POW in North Viet Nam, spending 7 ½ years in prison there, including 4 in solitary confinement and surviving some of the worst torture they had to give, he just never got all that much respect. Phil Hartman played him on Saturday Night Live. Sure, he was a hero, we guessed, but he was so old. White hair. Hearing aid. He said funny things. He sounded like the grandpa that mom was not quite ready to send to the home. Rest his soul - he died in 2005.

He was born in Dec 1923, which made him 68 years old when he was running for Vice President in 1992. John McCain will be 72 in August