The Bravest Man I Ever Knew

“My God, to witness him sing the national anthem in response to having a rifle pointed at his face - well, that was something to behold. Unforgettable.” – John McCain

A tribute to George “Bud” Day, one of the most decorated veterans in US history and the only person to be awarded the Medal of Honor and Air Force Cross.

Once A Marine, Always A Marine

Born in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1925, Day grew up in the Great Depression. He struggled through his adolescent years and on his 17th birthday did what many young men did during WWII. He dropped out of school and enlisted.

On December 10, 1942, just a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the Marines. Remarkably, Day would spend the next 35 years serving his country and would rise from a Marine private to an Air Force Brigadier General.

After completing Marine basic training, he shipped out for the Pacific and spent the next two and a half years with the 3rd Defense Battalion at Johnston Atoll. He returned to the States in 1945 and with WWII over was discharged from the Marines.

Over the next four years, he earned an undergraduate and law degree and by 1949 was a practicing attorney.

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out.

Lt. Bud Day, circa 1953 (PC: airforcetimes.com)

From Korea to Vietnam

Having joined the US Army Reserve in 1946 and the Iowa Air National Guard in 1950, Day was called to active duty and sent to pilot training. He was soon flying combat missions over Korea. During his two tours as a fighter-bomber pilot with 559th Strategic Fighter Squadron, he proved to be an outstanding pilot and inspirational leader.

Surviving the war, he returned home and continued his Air Force career. In 1967, a year shy of retirement, he volunteered for Vietnam.

On August 26, 1967, while flying on what would be his last mission over North Vietnam, Day’s 100F fighter jet was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire.

With his aircraft crippled and out of control, Day was forced to eject. During his violent exit from the plane, the 42-year-old father of four slammed into the cockpit, breaking his arm in three places, dislocating his knee, and injuring his back and eye.

Parachuting to the ground, Day was captured by North Vietnamese militiamen.

Major Day standing beside his F-100F fighter jet, “Misty” (PC: PBS, Medal of Honor)

After a week of interrogation and torture at a remote prison camp in North Vietnam, Day attempted an escape. Injured, weak, and without weapons or shoes, he slipped into the jungle, determined to make it to friendly lines.

More than two weeks later, after evading enemy patrols, eating frogs and drinking jungle water, crossing a river on a bamboo raft, and almost getting killed by a US artillery barrage, he was within two miles of American units. 

But his luck had run out. Totally exhausted and suffering from delirium, he became confused and lost his sense of direction; a few days later he was recaptured. Day would spend the next five and half years in a North Vietnamese prison.

Fierce Resistance and Resolute Leadership

Throughout his imprisonment, he was tortured, starved, and beaten. During the darkest days of his captivity, the Air Force major was strung up for days, tearing his arms from their sockets and leaving them permanently damaged. 

Day, however, refused to give in and “offered maximum resistance” against his captors. He became an inspiration to his fellow prisoners and was one of the most respected men at the “Hanoi Hilton,” the infamous prison located in the North Vietnam capital.

At one point during his ordeal he shared a cell with downed Navy pilot John McCain. The two men became lifelong friends and years later McCain said, "I owe my life to Bud. He was the bravest man I ever knew, and his fierce resistance and resolute leadership set the example for us in prison of how to return home with honor.”

Day, reuniting with his wife on March 14, 1973, after 5 and a half years as a POW (PC:fairchild.af.mil)

The Medal of Honor

Released from captivity on March 14, 1973, he returned to the US and was reunited with his wife Doris and their four children.

“That was the happiest day of my life,” Doris, his high school sweetheart whom he had married in 1949, later recalled. His two sons and twin daughters nearly knocked their frail father to the tarmac as he got off the plane. Nearly six years of pain, tears, and uncertainty were replaced by overwhelming joy.

Three years later, President Gerald Ford presented him with the Medal of Honor for his “personal bravery in the face of deadly enemy pressure . . . that was significant in saving the lives of fellow aviators who were still flying against the enemy.”

When asked about his time as a POW, he told a reporter in 2008, "As awful as it sounds, no one could say we did not do well. Being a POW was a major issue in my life and one that I am extremely proud of. I was just living day to day. One bad cold and I would have been dead.”

Day and his good friend and fellow POW cellmate, John McCain (PC: Politico)

Postscript

Colonel Bud Day retired from the Air Force in 1977 with over 8,000 total flying hours and 70 decorations, including more than 50 for actions in combat. He was posthumously promoted to Brigadier General.

Day passed away in July 2013 at the age of 88 with Doris, his children, and grandchildren at his bedside. “He would have died in my arms if I could have picked him up,” his wife remembered.

“He’s our dad, but also our hero,” Sonja, one of his twin daughters, told a Daily News reporter. “I’m in awe. It’s unbelievable to know so many people feel the same way we do.”

In his remarks to the Senate after Day’s passing, John McCain said: 

To have known him in prison - confronting our enemies day-in and day-out; never, ever yielding - defying men who had the power of life and death over us. No one had more guts than Bud or greater determination to do his duty and then some - to keep faith with his country and his comrades whatever the cost. Bud was my commanding officer; but, more, he was my inspiration - as he was for all the men who were privileged to serve under him.