McCain awarded prestigious Liberty Medal

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) received the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal Monday night.

“I’m aware of the prestigious company the Liberty Medal places me in,” McCain said in his speech after receiving the award. “I’m humbled by it, and I’ll try my best not to prove too unworthy of it.”

“I’ve had the good fortune to spend 60 years in service to this wondrous land,” he continued.

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“I’ve been repaid a thousand times over with adventures, with good company, with the satisfaction of serving something more important than myself, of being a bit player in the extraordinary story of America. And I am so grateful,” McCain said.

The Arizona senator was presented the medal by former Vice President Joe Biden for his “lifetime of sacrifice and service” to the United States.

“Courage and loyalty – I can think of no better description for the man we’re honoring tonight, Senator John McCain,” Biden said in a speech before presenting McCain with the award.

Past recipients of the Liberty Medal include the Dalai Lama, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Pakistani human rights activist Malala Yousafzai.

McCain, who was diagnosed with brain cancer in July, served in the Navy for more than two decades and spent years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

The former Republican presidential nominee made headlines earlier this year after he announced he wouldn’t vote for two GOP bills to repeal ObamaCare, casting a dramatic no vote against one bill in a late-night voting session that killed the bill.