On July 25 , 1967 , '' Forrestal '' reached Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin and joined Operation Rolling Thunder , the 1965 – 1968 air interdiction and strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnam . The alpha strikes flown from '' Forrestal '' were against specific , pre-selected targets such as arms depots , factories , and bridges . They were quite dangerous , due to the strength of the North Vietnamese air defenses , which used Soviet-designed and - supplied surface-to-air missiles , anti-aircraft artillery , and MiG jet interceptors . McCain 's first five attack missions over North Vietnam went without incident , and while still unconcerned with minor Navy regulations , McCain had garnered the reputation of a serious aviator . McCain and his fellow pilots were frustrated by the micromanagement of Rolling Thunder from Washington ; he later wrote , " The target list was so restricted that we had to go back and hit the same targets over and over again ... Most of our pilots flying the missions believed that our targets were virtually worthless . In all candor , we thought our civilian commanders were complete idiots who did n't have the least notion of what it took to win the war . " McCain was almost killed on board '' Forrestal '' on July 29 , 1967 . While the air wing was preparing to launch attacks , a Zuni rocket from an F-4 Phantom accidentally fired across the carrier 's deck . The rocket struck either McCain 's A-4E Skyhawk or one near it . The impact ruptured the Skyhawk 's fuel tank , which ignited the fuel and knocked two bombs loose . McCain later said , " I thought my aircraft exploded . Flames were everywhere . " McCain escaped from his jet by climbing out of the cockpit , working himself to the nose of the jet , and jumping off its refueling probe onto the burning deck . His flight suit caught on fire as he rolled through the flames , but he was able to put it out . He went to help another pilot trying to escape the fire when the first bomb exploded ; McCain was thrown backwards ten feet ( three meters ) and suffered minor wounds when struck in the legs and chest by fragments . McCain helped crewmen throw unexploded bombs overboard off the hangar deck elevator , then went to '' Forrestal '' 's ready room and with other pilots watched the ensuing fire and the fire-fighting efforts on the room 's closed-circuit television . The fire killed 134 sailors , injured scores of others , destroyed at least 20 aircraft , and took 24 hours to control . In Saigon a day after the conflagration , McCain praised the heroism of enlisted men who gave their lives trying to save the pilots on deck , and told '' The New York Times '' reporter R. W. Apple Jr. , " It 's a difficult thing to say . But now that I 've seen what the bombs and the napalm did to the people on our ship , I 'm not so sure that I want to drop any more of that stuff on North Vietnam . " But such a change of course was unlikely ; as McCain added , " I always wanted to be in the Navy . I was born into it and I never really considered another profession . But I always had trouble with the regimentation . " As '' Forrestal '' headed to port for repairs , McCain volunteered to join the undermanned VA-163 " Saints " squadron on board the . 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 Air Medal . Air defenses around Hanoi were at this point the strongest they would be during the entire war
ensuing fire
1967 USS Forrestal fire
Early life and military career of John McCain