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I know this is looking like DeathBeeper lately, but....
Retired Vice Adm. James Stockdale, a former prisoner of war and Ross Perot's running mate for president in 1992, died Tuesday at 81, the Navy announced.
...A political unknown, Stockdale became the butt of jokes after he opened the 1992 vice presidential debate by asking, "Who am I? Why am I here?"
I'm saddened that this is how he'll be remembered, I'll bet -- an eccentric and baffling performance for a few minutes in front of the cameras playing second fiddle to an insane power-mad stunted troll. Let's not forget his greener years:
Stockdale said his study of the Roman Stoic philosopher Epictetus helped him endure more than seven years as a prisoner of war after his A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over North Vietnam.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military medal for valor, in 1976 for his efforts to organize fellow American prisoners to resist their guards.
Stockdale "deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate," the Medal of Honor citation reads.
"He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese, who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of excessive harassment and torture toward all of the prisoners of war."
Retired Vice Adm. James Stockdale, a former prisoner of war and Ross Perot's running mate for president in 1992, died Tuesday at 81, the Navy announced.
...A political unknown, Stockdale became the butt of jokes after he opened the 1992 vice presidential debate by asking, "Who am I? Why am I here?"
I'm saddened that this is how he'll be remembered, I'll bet -- an eccentric and baffling performance for a few minutes in front of the cameras playing second fiddle to an insane power-mad stunted troll. Let's not forget his greener years:
Stockdale said his study of the Roman Stoic philosopher Epictetus helped him endure more than seven years as a prisoner of war after his A-4 Skyhawk was shot down over North Vietnam.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military medal for valor, in 1976 for his efforts to organize fellow American prisoners to resist their guards.
Stockdale "deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound to his person in order to convince his captors of his willingness to give up his life rather than capitulate," the Medal of Honor citation reads.
"He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese, who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of excessive harassment and torture toward all of the prisoners of war."
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