Who is that lovely lady smiling as her husband returns home from five years imprisonment in a North Vietnamese prison? Why that is none other than Mrs. Carol McCain, the faithful first wife of the US Senator. The wife that is conveniently left out of the McCain narrative and commercial footage of him as a POW.

Normally, this kind of delving into someone’s personal life does not interest me. As a woman, I have been personally offended by the numerous attacks on the character of Mrs. Michelle Obama. The ladies over at Michelle Obama Watch have got her back. So I have decided to cover the ladies McCain.

As the story goes Carol McCain (formerly Shepp) was the wife of John McCain’s fellow midshipman at the Naval Academy. One year after her divorce, she married John McCain in 1965. Two years later, his plane was shot down over North Vietnam and he became a prisoner of war for five years. During that time, Carol raised their children and became active in the POW-MIA movement.

Unfortunately, during this time, she was involved in a car accident in 1969 that left her severely injured. Some reports state that as a result of her surgeries she lost 4-5 inches in height. According to the LA Times, John ‘War Hero" McCain confided to his friends that she was not the woman he had married.

In 1979, five years after returning home from Vietnam and still married to Carol, John meets Cindy McCain (formerly Hensley) at a military reception. He actively pursues the young model 17 years his junior. One month after his divorce to the mother of his child, he marries the young heiress.

With a new wife, who was young, healthy and wealthy by his side John McCain embarked on his political career. And so began the narrative of the maverick.

More on Cindy McCain in the upcoming days. . .