A retired Air Force officer who shared a cell with the late John McCain John Sidney McCainAnalysis: Biden victory, Democratic sweep would bring biggest boost to economy The Memo: Trump's strengths complicate election picture Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE while the two were prisoners of war in Vietnam said on Monday that the most important thing he learned from McCain can be summarized in the statement, “It’s the mission and the men.”

“In the prison camp, it was resisting exploitation by the communist North Vietnamese and at the same time, caring for those of us that inhabited that place,” retired Air Force Col. John Fer said on CNN’s “New Day.”

"The single most important thing that I learned from John McCain is summarized in a statement that he often made to me ... 'It's the mission and the men.'"

—Ret. USAF Col. John Fer, Vietnam POW who shared a cell with McCain pic.twitter.com/oUEUhUbaMF — New Day (@NewDay) August 27, 2018

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Fer said McCain often made the “mission and the men statement” when discussing military leadership.

McCain, the longtime U.S. senator from Arizona, died Saturday a little more than a year after being diagnosed with brain cancer. He was 81.

Before becoming a senator, McCain was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. He was captured after his plane crashed during a mission and held as a prisoner for five years.

McCain will be laid to rest next to his Naval Academy classmate and friend Adm. Chuck Larson, according to a schedule of events from his office. McCain graduated from the Naval Academy in 1958.

His burial will be held after a national memorial service at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.