US President Joe Biden visits the John Sidney McCain III memorial in Hanoi on September 11, 2023. Photo AFP
US President Joe Biden and his delegation paid tribute to the late Senator John McCain at his memorial in Hanoi on Monday afternoon.
Biden offered flowers at the monument, located on the shore of Truc Bach Lake in Ba Dinh district, and stayed for about 10 minutes before leaving for Noi Bai Airport.
The monument marks McCain’s capture during the Vietnam War, after his plane was shot down during a bombing raid in 1967. He ejected from his plane and was pulled ashore by locals after landing in the Lake Truc Bach. He spent the next five and a half years as a prisoner of war in Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi.
McCain was released following the Paris Agreement in 1973.
Before his death on August 25, 2018 from brain cancer, McCain remained one of the major symbols of the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam.
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The memorial to the late Senator John McCain near Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy |
Vice President Kamala Harris also paid floral tributes to the late senator at the memorial during her August 2021 visit.
President Biden arrived in Hanoi on Sunday afternoon for a two-day state visit at the invitation of Vietnam Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong.
In a meeting on Sunday, the two leaders announced that Vietnam-US relations will become a comprehensive strategic partnership, 10 years after the establishment of their comprehensive partnership.
