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This episode of Against the Odds contains strong language and depictions of violence. Please be advised.

It's early November 1967. John McCain is lying on an old hospital bed in Hanoi, Vietnam, and he can barely move.

Both his arms and one of his legs are broken. He stares straight ahead at the chip paint on the wall in front of him.

It's the nicest thing in this room for him to look at. The rest is dirty. Rat stodged puddles in the floor as they frantically scurry across the room.

But this is way better than what John's had to live through this past week. He can barely close his eyes without reliving it.

John's A4 Skyhawk attack aircraft was shot down a week before. He barely survived the crash.

Then he wound up at the brutal prisoner of war camp, nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton. There he was savagely tortured and beaten repeatedly.

He's been in the hospital four days now and the doctors have given him blood and plasma. But it hasn't really made a difference.

Every millimeter of movement hurts enough to make him see red.

John slowly shifts his eyes and looks over at the door. He's waiting for a visit from his best friend here in Hanoi.

Well, best friend may not be the best way to describe him.

John doesn't know his friend's name or even speak the same language, but he's all he's got.

A skinny Vietnamese teenager enters with a bowl of noodles. The young man spends hours each day with John serving as his makeshift guard at the hospital.

But more importantly, he feeds John. That's why he's here. And just like every other day, he jams three or four spoonfuls of hot noodles in the John's mouth before he has the chance to swallow.

John can't eat like that. He's hungry as hell, but his body can't take it.

John's pretty sure he's got dysentery. He feels like he wants to throw up constantly.

John groans for him to stop. The boy shrugs and takes the rest of the meal for himself. The kid smiles. He does this every single meal.

Then the boy pulls out a book and starts reading to John in Vietnamese. John has no idea what he's saying, but he still tries to listen thoughtfully.

He's as thankful that someone's there showing him some sort of compassion. The boy turns a page and John notices a photograph nestled inside the book.

...