McCain, Annan will be missed

Sen. John McCain has died and has left us with many good memories of his life. He was a Navy man, just like his father and grandfather. As a Navy pilot, he was shot down in the Vietnam War and became a prisoner of war for nearly six years. He had numerous injuries caused by that crash and imprisonment. Brain cancer has now taken his life.

Bombastic Trump made a provocative remark about Sen. McCain being captured by the Viet Cong, stating that “He’s not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.” That remark should have disqualified Trump from being president! But no, we have to wait for Congress to make a decision on Trump’s future in the remainder of his term.

Sen. McCain earned many military medals for his service and was awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 1999. We will miss him.

Another person who died recently was Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretarygeneral. I met Mr. Annan and his wife, Nane, in 2002, when we both received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at a presentation at the JFK Library in Boston. Secretary-General Annan, Sen. Ted Kennedy and myself were invited to a press conference with the Boston Globe and other newspapers. We had a very enjoyable and interesting time together with the press.

I had the opportunity to get to know Annan and Kennedy, during and after that meeting.

Both Sen. McCain and Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be missed. May God be with their two fine families.

Dean Koldenhoven, former mayor of Palos Heights