Harris visits McCain memorial in Vietnam to mark anniversary of his death

Vice President Harris on Wednesday paid tribute to the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on the third anniversary of his death by visiting a monument in Vietnam where his plane was shot down in 1967. 

“John McCain was an extraordinary American hero,” Harris said at the monument in Trúc Bạch Lake. “I was honored and privileged to serve with him for a short time in the United States Senate. John McCain, he loved our country.

“He was so courageous and really lived the life of a hero — the sacrifices he made that were on every scale imaginable, loved our country and really always fought for the best of who we are. And it turns out today is the anniversary, so there we are,” Harris added as she stood in the rain.

McCain died three years ago after a long bout with brain cancer. Harris served in the Senate alongside McCain for roughly two years before his death.

On the 3-year anniversary of Senator John McCain’s death, @VP Harris visited the marker where the plane of then-Lt. Cmdr. John McCain was shot down in 1967. The monument serves as a reminder of the cost of war and a symbol of the continued growth in the U.S.-Vietnam relationship. pic.twitter.com/f1dri5Q0X5

— Rachel Palermo (@RachelPalermo46) August 25, 2021

The monument was built years after McCain was shot down over Trúc Bạch Lake in what was then North Vietnam and taken as a prisoner of war. McCain visited the monument multiple times during his roughly 25 visits to Vietnam after the war, the White House said.

Harris’s visit to Vietnam comes as many experts are drawing parallels between the evacuation of U.S. personnel from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War and the ongoing efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of American citizens and Afghan allies from Kabul as the Biden administration pulls U.S. troops out of Afghanistan after its government fell to the Taliban.