Senator John McCain, who helped lay the foundation for a cooperative Vietnam-US relationship, passed away on August 25 (US time) at the age of 81.

McCain himself served in the invading war of the US in Vietnam. He joined in the Rolling Thunder air campaign in 1967, bombing targets in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (northern Vietnam). His plane was shot down in 1967 and McCain was taken prisoner. He was returned to the US in an exchange of prisoners in 1973. Along with pushing for the normalization of relations with Vietnam, Senator McCain also supported the Vietnamese community in the US, serving as a bridge between them and the US authorities as well as the Vietnamese Government.-VNA