Md. POW Fights for McCain

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Everett Alvarez Jr. was flying a Navy fighter jet at 500 mph toward an enemy naval base on Aug. 5, 1964, when he was shot down by North Vietnamese enemy fire.

Pulled from the water, he was soon sent to the infamous "Hanoi Hilton," where, as a prisoner of war, he was beaten, tortured and kept in solitary confinement.

Alvarez, a Maryland delegate to the Republican National Convention here, was America's first POW in Vietnam. He was also held the longest: 8 1/2 years. "If you wanted a good cell, you had to come early," he said, smiling, in a recent interview.

Alvarez, 70, is honorary chairman of Maryland's...