| Date: 26 August 1967 |
| Aircraft type: F-100F Super Sabre |
| Serial Number: 56-3954 |
| Military Unit: 612 TFS, 37 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Phu Cat |
| Name(s): |
| Maj George Everett Day (POW) |
| Capt Corwin N Kippenhan (Survived) |
| On 26 August Misty 3 was flying a FAC mission just north of the DMZ. Maj ‘Bud’ Day was leading a flight of F-105s in a search for a suspected SAM site just north of Thon Cam Son. This was an area where several aircraft had been shot down by SAMs in recent weeks but the North Vietnamese were very adept at moving SAM batteries between sites and building dummy sites that were surrounded by anti-aircraft guns. As the F-100F (call sign Misty 3) came in over the target at 4,500 feet it was hit in the engine by AAA and burst into flames. The aircraft turned towards the sea but the crew had to eject about two miles short of the coast. Capt Kippenhan, who was on his first mission as a FAC, was rescued by a HH-3E from the 37th ARRS but ‘Bud’ Day was captured before he could be picked up. During the ejection sequence Day’s left arm was broken in three places, his left knee was dislocated and he was blinded in one eye by a blood clot. He was captured by North Vietnamese militia but after a short while he managed to escape from his captors. Despite his injuries he walked throughout the night and covered about 20 miles before resting as daylight broke. He was awakened by explosions all around him, either artillery or bombs, which further injured him. When he felt better a couple of days later he set off walking again but after several days he was starving and hallucinating. He eventually walked into a VC patrol near Quang Tri having unknowingly crossed into South Vietnam. He tried to escape but was shot twice, recaptured and eventually taken to Hanoi. He had been free for almost two weeks and was the only American to escape across the DMZ into the South from North Vietnam. Once in Hanoi, Maj Day suffered many severe torture sessions, some of them at the hands of Cuban interrogators, which left ‘Bud’ Day close to death on several occasions. George Day was eventually released from Hanoi on 14 March 1973.
Maj Day was on his 139th mission (67th over the North) when he was shot down. He had joined the US Marine Corps in 1942 after dropping out of high school and served over two years in the Pacific theatre. He joined the Army Reserve after demobilisation but then joined the USAF in 1951 and served tours flying the F-84 in Korea and the United Kingdom. He flew 72 missions in the F-100 in Vietnam before being selected to command the Misty FAC detachment. Colonel George Everett Day was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous escape attempt and for his outstanding example of resistance in several North Vietnamese prison camps. Said to be the most decorated officer after General MacArthur, Bud Day wrote a book titled Return with Honor and, following his retirement from the USAF in 1977, he became a practising attorney in Florida. |
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