 In March 1968 , McCain was put into solitary confinement , where he remained for two years . Unknown to the POWs , in April 1968 , Jack McCain was named Commander @-@ in @-@ Chief , Pacific Command ( CINCPAC ) effective in July , stationed in Honolulu and commander of all U.S. forces in the Vietnam theater . In mid @-@ June , Major Bai , commander of the North Vietnamese prison camp system , offered McCain a chance to return home early . The North Vietnamese wanted to score a worldwide propaganda coup by appearing merciful , and also wanted to show other POWs that members of the elite like McCain were willing to be treated preferentially . McCain turned down the offer of release , due to the POWs ' " first in , first out " interpretation of the U.S. Code of Conduct : he would only accept the offer if every man captured before him was released as well . McCain 's refusal to be released was remarked upon by North Vietnamese senior negotiator Lê Đức Thọ to U.S. envoy Averell Harriman , during the ongoing Paris Peace Talks . Enraged by his declining of the offer , Bai and his assistant told McCain that things would get very bad for him . 
