On July 29, 1967, the USS Forrestal Burned for 17 Hours — 134 Sailors Died and John McCain Was Almost One of Them

On July 29, 1967, the USS Forrestal Burned for 17 Hours — 134 Sailors Died and John McCain Was Almost One of Them

At 10:50 a.m. on July 29, 1967, a Zuni rocket misfired in its launcher aboard the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin, igniting a 17-hour inferno that killed 134 sailors and destroyed 21 aircraft. A young Lt. Cmdr. John McCain — the future U.S. senator from Arizona and 2008 Republican presidential nominee — was strapped into a Skyhawk on the flight deck and barely escaped with his flight suit on fire. Cascading M65 bomb detonations and pooling J…