believe we were going to do it. nobody cheered until the airplane lifted off the ground and the landing gear was retracted. i remember really clearly him stepping off that plane at clark air field and i ll tell ya, when he appeared in the hatch way, it was hard. commander john s. mccain, iii, united states navy. his wife carol, sons douglas and andrew and daughter sydney live in orange park, florida. i just remember he was really skinny. he was just kind of all bones in his face, and he was limping quite noticeably. one of his arms he couldn t lift any higher than about this. but i just remember the smile was the same and the humor was the same, there was still a twinkle in his eye. it was like right out of the movies. i don t think i really understood what was going on.