 As Forrestal headed to port for repairs , McCain volunteered to join the undermanned VA @-@ 163 " Saints " squadron on board the USS Oriskany . This carrier had earlier endured its own deck fire disaster and its squadrons had suffered some of the heaviest losses during Rolling Thunder . The Saints had a reputation for aggressive , daring attacks , but paid the price : in 1967 , one @-@ third of their pilots were killed or captured , and all of their original fifteen A @-@ 4s had been destroyed . After taking some leave in Europe and back home in Orange Park , Florida , McCain joined Oriskany on September 30 , 1967 , for a tour he expected would finish early the next summer . He volunteered to fly the squadron 's most dangerous missions right away , rather than work his way up to them . During October 1967 , the pilots operated in constant twelve @-@ hour on , twelve @-@ hour off shifts . McCain would be awarded a Navy Commendation Medal for leading his air section through heavy enemy fire during an October 18 raid on the Lac Trai shipyard in Haiphong . On October 25 , McCain successfully attacked the Phúc Yên Air Base north of Hanoi through a barrage of anti @-@ aircraft artillery and surface @-@ to @-@ air missile fire ; credited with destroying one aircraft on the ground and damaging two , the raid would garner him the Bronze Star . Air defenses around Hanoi were at this point the strongest they would be during the entire war . 
