GOP presidential candidate John McCain hugged Gold Star mother Denise Gionet today at a meet-and-greet event outside Hillside Country Store in Pelham.
Gionet, whose son U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Gionet, 23, was killed by a roadside bomb, feels a bond with the Arizona senator though she has not decided who to support in the New Hampshire primary.
Gionet came to Monday’s event to ask McCain a question: What does he think of the military’s designation of Duty Station Unknown for those referred to in previous conflicts as MIA/POWs?
McCain’s answer was straightforward.
“It should be MIA/POW,” he said, encircled by mothers, children, veterans and others who came to see him.
Gionet said she was happy to hear the senator’s response. She worries that the new desgination is unclear while “POW/MIA” is a term that tells people the status of missing soldiers such as Army Spec. Alex Jimenez of Lawrence, Mass.
About 50 or 60 visitors joined police and the media at the McCain Straight Talk Express stop.
Among those in the crowd was Pelham High School senior Will English, 18. The undecided voter came “to see what (McCain’s) all about.” The student wants soldiers out of Iraq.
There was also Bob Smith of Pelham. He has two things of note on his mind: tax reform and bringing home the troops after seeing Iraq stabilized.
Lucille Sarrasin of Dracut, Mass., was there, too, with her two grandchildren. She wants the economy to improve and to see health insurance made affordable.
McCain pressed flesh and joked.
Given his druthers, McCain said he probably would have preferred to have watched the Red Sox play Sunday night. But there was a GOP presidential debate going on.
Taking note of a dog under a tree, he said it is so dry in Arizona that the trees chase dogs.
