Section A·Page 7 The University Daily Kansan World Wednesday, April 26, 2000 Trip to Vietnam reminds McCain of past Senator spent years as prisoner of war The Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam — Shaking hands with crowds of Vietnamese, a nostalgic John McCain returned yesterday to the Hanoi lake where in 1967 he was dragged ashore and beaten after parachutting from his downed warplane. The bitter war has yielded to reconciliation, and the Arizona senator strolled with his family around the busy shore front of the capital's Truc Bach lake, stopping at a sidewalk memorial marking his rescue. "I put the Vietnam War behind me a long time ago," he said. "I harbor no anger, no rancor." People on the street seemed to feel the same. A crowd of Vietnamese gathered around McCain as he walked, greeting him as a friend and shaking his hand. McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war there, is now a leading proponent of rebuilding relations with the impoverished communist nation. Vietnam celebrates the 25th anniversary of the end of the war on Sunday, and the former presidential candidate is the most prominent of the numerous returning U.S. veterans. Still, his schedule was filled with war reminders. Shortly after he arrived, McCain attended a solemn airport repatriation ceremony in which an 11-person military honor guard placed six small boxes of remains, believed to be from U.S. servicemen, into silver metal coffins. About 50 U.S. civilians and military personnel watched as the containers were draped with American flags and carried into the hold of a C-17 cargo plane heading to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii for forensic analysis. The remains were recovered this year as part of the ongoing American effort to account for more than 2,000 servicemen missing in Indochina, including about 1,500 in Vietnam. borders the lake and briefly recounted the downing of his F4A plane during a bombing mission Oct. 26, 1967. Several hours later, McCain took his wife and son on a walk along the bustling sidewalk that Today, McCain will visit Hon Lo Prison — the "Hanoi Hilton," as POWs called it, where he spent his years in captivity. He has said his hardships there included beatings, a lack of proper medical treatment for injuries and a total of three years in solitary confinement for what his captors called a "bad attitude." McCain: Visited lake where he was captured He twice He twice tried to hang himself, using his shirt as a noose, but was caught both times by the guards, who then beat him. Most of the prison was torn down in 1993 to make way for Hanoi Towers, an upscale office complex and hotel in central Hanoi. One wing of the faded yellow fortress was preserved and opened as a museum three years ago. One cell is devoted to the 300 American prisoners and includes a photo of a young McCain with beard stubble. The Vietnamese have a rather different take on the men's life in captivity. "Though having committed untold crimes on our people, American pilots suffered no revenge once they were captured and detained," the exhibit says. "Instead, they were well-treated with adequate food, clothing and shelter." The Vietnamese government has in the past ranked at McCain's accounts of his time in captivity, denying his allegations of torture at the hands of prison guards. During his unsuccessful presidential bid this year, McCain also raised the ire of some Asian-American groups when he said he and his fellow Americans referred to their captors with the derogatory term "gooks." McCain refused calls to apologize for his language. McCain held a friendly meeting yesterday with Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien with no mention of the controversy. 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