Joe McCain

Joseph Pinckney McCain II (born April 26, 1942) is an American stage actor, newspaper reporter, and the brother of the late U.S. Senator and two-time presidential candidate John McCain. Early life and education Joseph Pinckney McCain II was born to John S. McCain Jr. and Roberta McCain on April 26, 1942, in the naval base hospital in New London, Connecticut. His father's perpetual traveling for Navy assignments meant that Joe had attended 17 different schools by the time he completed 9th grade. He entered the United States Naval Academy, but left in 1961 during his first year. Although he had tried to emulate his older brother, father (against his advice), grandfather and forebears, he later said "I just didn't like all the formations and inspections and things like that." He then attended the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary which became Old Dominion University, where he later said he "discovered fraternities and beer and girls." Vietnam era Joe McCain was a member of the United States Navy and in 1965 to 1966 served as an enlisted man aboard the during the Vietnam War. During that conflict and his brother's long time as a prisoner of war, the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, which included Joe, heightened awareness of the POWs' plight. In 1970, McCain sat in a bamboo cage in Los Angeles, eating simulated POW food to dramatize the plight of POWs. In the same year, he and two other brothers of POWs traveled around the U.S. circulating petitions to be presented to North Vietnamese representatives, and sought the signatures of opponents of the Vietnam War as well as those supporting it. He then helped bring 13 tons of mail to the North Vietnamese delegation at the Paris Peace Talks, demanding humane treatment for the POWs. Career Following Vietnam, McCain tried both journalism and medical school before moving to acting. He worked at the San Diego Union and San Diego Evening Tribune, but got in trouble at one for perpetrating a prank. He subsequently became a dinner theater actor.