'A Great Hero': Pittsburghers Remember Senator John McCain
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Flags around the country flew at half staff Sunday in honor of Arizona Senator John McCain, who died Saturday at age 81 after a battle with brain cancer.
People in Pittsburgh remembered the late senator for years of service to his country.
"Just a great hero, I think. What he went through, being a prisoner of war and things like that, [that's] something I think we could all learn a lesson from. Putting country first, and the putting everything else second," voter Chris Canann said.
"We need more people like that," voter Laura Burlingame said.
"I felt sad when I saw that last night," voter Susan Meyer said.
Whether you agree with him politically or not, you couldn't help but respect the man. He was just a great guy," voter Bill Meyer said.
Former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey has known McCain since the early '90s.
"He was as gracious as he was and down-to-earth. He talked with a lot of common sense, not like most politicians," Roddey said.
McCain graduated from the Naval Academy and became a pilot. In 1967, his plane was shot down and he spent five and a half years in a North Vietnamese prison.
"He was tortured every day and offered a chance to leave because they found out that his father was an admiral," Roddey said. "He said only if you release my fellow prisoners and he stayed two more years after that."
When he returned home, McCain was elected to Congress in 1983 and became a U.S. Senator by 1987. He was often called a maverick.
Roddey remembers when the senator came to Washington while sick and voted against a bill to reject Obamacare.
"I talked to him about Obamacare. He said there are a lot of flaws, but what we do need to do is fix those problems, not just throw it out, because there are some good parts," Roddey said.
