A True American Hero: John McCain's Life In Pictures

John McCain (center) sits as a young boy with his grandfather Vice Adm. (later admiral) John S. McCain Sr. (left) and father, Cmdr. (later admiral) John S. McCain Jr., in a family photo, in the 1940s.

John McCain (front right) with his squadron in 1965.

Navy crew members try to put out a fire aboard the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam on July 29, 1967, after an F-4 Phantom accidentally fired a Zuni rocket into an A-4 Skyhawk, which caused massive explosions on the aft end of the flight deck. McCain was injured during the incident that killed 134 sailors.

McCain (center) is rescued from Hanoi's Truc Bach Lake by several Hanoi residents after his Navy warplane was downed by the North Vietnamese Army on Oct. 26, 1967.

McCain is examined by a Vietnamese doctor in 1967.

President Nixon speaks with Adm. John S. McCain, commander in chief of US forces in the Pacific, whose son is a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

McCain lying on a bed in a Hanoi hospital as he was being given medical care for his injuries in 1967.

McCain is escorted by Lt. Cmdr. (later captain) Jay Coupe Jr., public relations officer, on March 14, 1973, to Hanoi's Gia Lam Airport after the POW was released.

At a predinner reception, US President Richard Nixon greets McCain in Washington, DC, on May 24, 1973.

Vice President George H.W. Bush (right) swears in John McCain as US senator

from Arizona in 1987, with his family watching on.

Sen. John Kerry, who received three Purple Hearts while serving in Vietnam, and Sen. John McCain, who was a POW in Vietnam from 1967 to 1973, examine a book containing the names of the "unaccounted for" soldiers who served in the Vietnam War, on June 24, 1992.

McCain holds up photos of himself outside the Vietnam Military History Museum in Hanoi on Oct. 19, 1992. The photos were delivered by Col. Pham Duc Dai (left), director of the museum, and Col. Tran Bien (right), representative on the MIA issue at the Ministry of Defense, as a gift for visiting the museum.

McCain looks at a display of personal belongings of American POWs at the joint POW/MIA archives center in the Vietnam Military History Museum on May 31, 1993.

McCain gets a haircut in his hotel before the Republican National Convention begins in San Diego on Aug. 12, 1996.

Presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain gets a kiss from his wife, Cindy, as they kick off his campaign in Greenville, South Carolina, on July 31, 1999.

McCain, then a Republican presidential candidate, talks with a supporter at a book signing for his book Faith of My Father in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sept. 11, 1999.

Supporters of McCain gather outside the venue of the GOP debate on the campus of Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, on Nov. 21, 1999.

McCain, then a Republican presidential hopeful, gives his wife Cindy a kiss prior to his final town meeting on Jan. 30, 2000, in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

In his suite at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Republican presidential contender McCain hugs his daughter Meghan, with his wife, Cindy, behind them, after hearing that he's the projected winner of the Republican New Hampshire primary on Jan. 8, 2008, in Nashua, New Hampshire.

President George W. Bush talks with McCain at a Republican Party fundraiser in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on Oct. 12, 2004.

McCain and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin attend a campaign rally at the Pima County Fairgrounds on March 26, 2010, in Tucson, Arizona.

McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama take part in the first presidential debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi, on Sept. 26, 2008.

Republican presidential nominee McCain, with his wife, Cindy, speaks at a campaign rally at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Oct. 22, 2008.

McCain speaks to members of the media after a hearing on the Benghazi attack before the Select Committee on Intelligence on Nov. 16, 2012, on Capitol Hill.

McCain makes remarks after receiving the 2017 Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center on Oct. 16, 2017, in Philadelphia.

McCain, recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, departs after returning to the Senate to vote on health care legislation on Capitol Hill on July 25, 2017.

McCain speaks at a rally outside Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Nov. 3, 2008.