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History ties McCain to area residents
Two people who met with Republican presidential nominee John McCain before he departed Consol Energy Field last week on his campaign bus both said they'd "absolutely" be tuning in to the broadcast of the Republican National Convention Thursday night as the candidate delivers his acceptance speech.
Bruno Fronzaglio of Donora escorted then-Lt. Cmdr. McCain from a bus to a U.S. Air Force plane as he was released from North Vietnamese custody after nearly 51/2 years as a prisoner of war.
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Fronzaglio, now 74, said this week his meeting with McCain after the "Road to the Convention" rally in Washington with vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was equally brief.
"I got to meet him probably 25 seconds, right before he got on the bus," Fronzaglio said.
"He said, 'Wow, that's something.' I introduced him to my two granddaughters."
Accompanying Fronzaglio were Chrisney, 15, and Gabrielle Fronzaglio, 8, of Monongahela.
"I wanted them to go for history," Fronzaglio said.
Fronzaglio, who retired as a master sergeant from the U.S. Air Force in 1975, gave McCain a Vietnamese paper bill bearing the date 1973.
Fronzaglio, who was serving in the Philippines, recalled the events of late winter 1973.
"In Paris, they were discussing POW release. They put a flight crew on standby. We were standing around in uniform in the Philippines and they told us, 'You guys are going up to Hanoi. No side arms are allowed to go up there.'"
After a quick trip to Saigon, Fronzaglio's plane returned to Hanoi. A C-141 transport was going to be used to fly the prisoners out after their release from the camp known as the Hanoi Hilton.
"They had the prisoners on little, tiny buses, gray, and the windows were blacked out with black tape. They were all tired, white looking. They could hardly walk on their own. We walked them over to a little card table. We took 40 a day. We went five times for prisoners. We started in February and we ended up the 30th of March."
Fronzaglio said he thinks McCain was released with a third round of prisoners; the date of his release was March 14, 1973.
"When that happened, I never knew who he was," Fronzaglio said.
Neither has he seen the History Channel show in which his sister said she saw him walking with McCain.
"It's a real quick flash," Fronzaglio said of the film footage.
Teenager Jane Yarger wore McCain's POW bracelet while she was a student at Abraham Lincoln High School in Philadelphia.
Now Jane D'Amico of Monongahela and the mother of four, she recalls sending for one of the metal bracelets distributed by the nonpartisan, nonpolitical national student organization, Voices In a Vital America.
"We were under a vow to wear them until they were returned," D'Amico said.
Once McCain was released, D'Amico wrote a letter to his family in Florida. She received a response, which she no longer has, but she still has the bracelet.
"He had been in the forefront of my mind for the past 37 years," D'Amico said Thursday of her meeting with McCain in Washington. "I quickly showed it to him and he did reach out and say, 'Yeah.' I told him I've been praying for him."
D'Amico said when she watches his speech, "I will be thinking of the man 35, 37 years ago and how far he's come, what he went through and his strength and his allegiance to his country."
Denis Keeling of South Strabane Township, who served with McCain on the USS Forestal and hoped to give him a black and gold ball cap embroidered with the name of the aircraft carrier, said Thursday that he did not get to meet the candidate Saturday.
"We were glad we went anyway," Keeling said.
