"Where do we get such men?"
RAdm George Tarrant, "The Bridges of Toko-ri", James Michener
"When the shooting starts, they call for the sons of bitches."
Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King USN
"He is one of those people for whom everything is either black or white. It is wonderful to go through life like that."
Senator John S. McCain III
This is a story of where we get such men, what happens when the shooting starts and of a life lived in black & white - pure and simple. This is an odyssey of a Sioux City "River Rat" who became a Red River Valley "River Rat". This is a saga of a man who could have been, and might even now be, your neighbor - a fellow American.
There are some folks who are natural aviators, natural fighter pilots and natural warriors. Those of us who have been in recruiting know how difficult it is to identify such "naturals". Our psychologists, our educators, our training "experts" and our consultants all claim to have the answer and they repeatedly come up empty. The ones who come closest are the experienced Marine Drill Instructors, they know a warrior when they see one but even they find it difficult to codify it. George "Bud" Day is a natural - aviator and warrior.
The Marine Corps missed it, only because Bud spend so much time in sick bays that he never had a chance to bloom. The Army National Guard never had a chance. The Air Force never seemed to get the word despite repeated superb performance in a myriad of flying and non flying tasks from the beginning to the end of his Air Force career.
Using dedication to duty and perseverance he survived an endless progression of dead end assignments turning career ending bovine residue into promotion enhancing events. Surviving all sorts of narrow escapes in aviation related incidents he culminated his survival performance by initiating (and obviously surviving) a low level, high speed ejection sans open parachute.
In Vietnam, Bud's service as Misty One resulted from the Air Force having a brain fart and deciding to put airborne FAC's in surplus supersonic jet aircraft with no doctrine or concept of operations. They were not able to find a light colonel with the cajones to undertake the task and dumped it onto the most junior of field grade officers - a major, with direct orders to "just do it". To the surprise of all he did it.
Upon his shoot down, the Vietnamese communists thought they had captured a wimp, and a severely injured one at that, because they had just captured one prior to Bud. But Bud dug into his mid-western stubbornness and USMC field training and escaped captivity in North Vietnam only to be recaptured within sight of his beloved Marines in South Vietnam.
In prison Bud led when his seniors were too beaten up to continue or too faint of heart even to try. Bud had the instinct and brains to recognize that to "return with honor" meant an endless progression of days, one day at a time, in resisting the mind numbing, stultifying, endless efforts of his captors and American traitors, inside and out of North Vietnam, to turn American fighting men into Manchurian Candidates. He saw that the POWs' battle would be one of persistent resistance to every effort to undermine their dedication, patriotism and loyalty. He led despite paying horrible penalties in brutal torture and depravation.
Upon his return Bud found that the politicians and political military leaders did not know what to do with the sons of bitches they let loose to fight their war. The honesty, uncompromising integrity, the ethical mores and the steel wills forged in the fiery furnace (Hoa Lo) of the Hanoi Communist imprisonment were out of place in the pansy world inside the beltway. The Air Force bureaucrats could find no room in the General Officers' Mess for Bud despite his Medal of Honor, Air Force Cross and total of seventy decorations for service and valor, despite his Command Pilot Status, despite his law degree, and despite his unwavering loyalty on active duty during three wars. Go figure. Bud could take a hint; he retired.
Bud soon found that a "grateful nation" that claimed it cannot do enough for its gallant servicemen, the world's "greatest generation" was busy shafting them left and right. Starting under President Carter retired military were being denied medical care they had been promised upon their enlistment by their recruiters. Under Secretary Rumsfeld and his Deputy Dr. Chu, the Department of Defense made concerted effort to block Bud's every legal move to redress this disgrace. What is wrong with this picture? An American Patriot, recipient of the Medal of Honor is placed in the position of having to sue his government for a redress of grievances and the very Department of Defense he defended is taking up arms against him every step of the way. For shame!
In the communist prison system we found that the commonality we had in resisting and surviving came from our families, neighborhoods, schools and churches reinforcing common values of Americanism. We were granted a few extraordinary men to lead us out of that abyss with our souls intact. Bud Day is one of those extraordinary men; he is a prince among men. I am proud to call him "friend".
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