But although McCain appeared to believe the story, it was one he would later seem to ignore in his autobiography and there was no more contact between the two men.
When Mr On died in 2006, an email was apparently sent to McCain's office requesting a message of condolence for the family. There was no response.
Whether or not McCain believed Mr On is unclear.
But his refusal to acknowledge his heroism is likely to fuel other, more damaging allegations that McCain exaggerated elements of his PoW ordeal in Hoa Lo prison.
What followed, according to McCain, was five-and-a-half years of torture and brutal beatings as a prisoner of war - an account that has given a steely edge to his candidacy by establishing him as a true American war hero.
But the story is at odds with the version uncovered by Vietnam veteran Chuck Searcy, who lives in Hanoi and is in charge of the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Fund.
Phung Van Chung, 70, who was a Communist Party official at the time, claims McCain was quickly singled out for softer treatment, adding: "I found out he was the son of an American admiral, so the top people wanted to keep him as a live witness so they could use him for negotiations."
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Since John McCain does not think his bombing a city was a prosecutable crime by international law, he would most probably not imagine threatening to bomb is a prosecutable crime either, but it is. Actually, most people have a sense of what is right and what is wrong, without knowing the exact law that applies. If someone was threatening to harm McCain's mother or sister, he would certainly know enough to notify the police.
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