American war hero, presidential nominee and longtime leading politician John McCain died aged 81 on Saturday afternoon at his home in Arizona.
McCain was the son and grandson of admirals and followed them to the US Naval Academy.
While serving as a pilot, he was shot down over Vietnam in 1967 and held as a prisoner of war for more than five years, suffering horrific torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese.
In 1982 he ran for the House of Representatives on Arizona’s Republican ticket and won.
Four years later in 1986, he won a seat in the Senate, where he served for the rest of his life as a leader of the Republican Party.
Circa 1936: Senator John S McCain III poses for a family portrait on his Navy admiral grandfather John Sidney McCain Sr’s lap as a baby, alongside (L-R) sister Alexandra, father John S McCain Jr and mother Roberta
Circa 1938: During his toddler years, future Senator John McCain sits on the sofa with his sister Sandy in a family photo
Circa 1940s: McCain as a young boy (center) sits alongside his grandfather Vice Admiral John S McCain Sr (left) and father Commander (late admiral) John S McCain Jr (right)
July 14, 1961: US Navy Lt John S McCain III, left, and his parents, Rear Adm John S McCain Jr, right, and Roberta Wright McCain stand in front of a plaque with an image of his grandfather, Adm John S McCain, as the Naval Air Station Meridian McCain Field is commissioned and named in honor of Adm McCain in Meridian, Mississippi
January 13, 1964: McCain is pictured during his time as a US Navy Lieutenant during the Vietnam War
1965: McCain III (lower right) stands with his Navy squadron during flight training during the Vietnam War
October 26, 1967: US Navy Airforce Major John McCain (center) is rescued from Hanoi’s Truc Bach lake by several Hanoi residents after his Navy warplane was downed by Northern Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. McCain said that upon capture he was beaten by an angry mob and bayoneted in the groin
Between 1968 and 1973: McCain lies injured in North Vietnam during his time as a prisoner of war in this undated photograph
1967: McCain is examined by a Vietnamese doctor after his Navy warplane was downed by the Northern Vietnamese army
March 14, 1973: McCain, center, is escorted to Hanoi’s Gia Lam Airport, after being released from five years of captivity
October 26, 1967: McCain smiles from a bus window on arrival at Clark Air Base in the Philippines, after his release from Hanoi
May 25, 1973: US Navy Lt Cmdr McCain is greeted by President Richard Nixon after his release from a prisoner of war camp
January 1987: Vice President George H W Bush re-enacts the swearing in of Sen John McCain with wife Cindy and their kids
November 7, 1991: The Republican Senator from Arizona is hugged by former North Vietnam Col Bui Tin on Capitol Hill in Washington after a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on POW and MIA affairs. Tin oversaw a military prison operation dubbed the ‘Hanoi Hilton’, where McCain was held prisoner during the Vietnam War
June 24, 1992: Senator McCain holds up an article from the Washington Times during a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs on Capitol Hill in Washington
December 1, 1992: Democratic Senator John Kerry, left, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, listens to Senator McCain, during a committee hearing
January 30, 2000: Confetti falls on Republican presidential hopeful McCain and his wife, Cindy, at the end of their 114th New Hampshire town hall meeting with voters at the Peterborough Town House in Peterborough, New Hampshire
November 4, 2001: McCain waves to the crowd prior to Game 7 of the World Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix
January 9, 2004: The Arizona Senator smiles alongside daughter Meghan and wife Cindy in New York City
January 19, 2008: Cindy McCain uses a cheetah hand to make her presidential hopeful husband laugh as they ride to a polling station in Charleston, South Carolina, on the day of the state’s Republican presidential primary
May 3, 2008: President George W. Bush (right) smiles as he listens to Senator John McCain in the Oval Office
September 3, 2008: McCain, center, joins vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, left, and her family following her speech at the Republican National Convention in St Paul just two months ahead of the election
September 4, 2008: McCain greets the crowd as he takes the stage at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota
September 5, 2008: McCain grins during a campaign event at the Freedom Hill Ampitheatre in Sterling Heights, Michigan
October 7, 2008: Democratic presidential candidate Sen Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, greets his opponent McCain at the start of a townhall-style presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee
November 3, 2008: McCain speaks at a rally in Tampa, Florida, on the day before the general presidential election
November 17, 2008: President-elect Barack Obama meets with former Republican hopeful McCain 13 days after the election
December 6, 2017: McCain was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in July 2017 – but returned to the Senate just two weeks later
August 25, 2018: A military veteran pays his respects to American war hero John McCain at the entrance to the McCain ranch complex in Cornville, Arizona, on Saturday
August 26, 2018: Flags fly at half-staff in honor of the late Senator John McCain at the Washington Monument