John Glenn gave this incredible response when a political opponent said he 'never held a job'

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, a former US senator, and former Marine aviator who saw combat in World War II and Korea, has died at 95.

Glenn is known for a number of accolades throughout his life of service, from the military to the astronaut program and eventually, into politics. So it's worth looking back on his entry into politics, when he first ran for office against an incumbent named Howard Metzenbaum.

In 1974, Glenn's military record offered an opening for criticism by his opponent, who was mindful of Americans' anti-war fervor during the Vietnam War. Metzenbaum began calling him "Col. Glenn" to highlight his time in the Marine Corps, and later told him that he "had never met a payroll," which Glenn perceived as being told that his military record and service with NASA didn't qualify as "having held a job."

His response during the debate was remarkable, and at the end of it, he received more than 20 seconds of sustained applause, according to PBS. Here's what he said:

"I spent 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. I lived through two wars. I flew 149 missions. I was in the space program. It wasn't my checkbook, it was my life that was on the line.

You go with me as I did out to a veterans' hospital and look those men with their mangled bodies in the eye and tell them that they didn't hold a job. You go with me to any Gold Star mother and you look her in the eye and you tell her that her son did not hold a job. You go to Arlington National Cemetery - where I have more friends than I'd like to remember - and you think about this nation, and you tell me that those people didn't have a job.

I tell you, Howard Metzenbaum, you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men, some men, who held a job. And they required a dedication to purpose, a love of country, and a dedication to duty that was more important than life itself.

And their self-sacrifice is what has made this nation possible.

I have held a job, Howard."

Glenn went on to defeat Metzenbaum in the primary and win the general election. He served in the Senate from 1974 to 1999. His speech was also used to motivate a group of US Marines before they went into combat in Marjah, Afghanistan in 2010.

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