1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:04,480 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, We've put together a survey for listeners of 2 00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor and we want to hear from you. 3 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: Tell us what you love about the show, what we 4 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: can improve on, or stories you think we've missed. We're 5 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 1: committed to making this show even better and you can 6 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: help to take the survey. Visit bit dot lee slash 7 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: MH survey. That's bit dot l y slash mh survey. 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: The link is also in our show notes below. Pushkin 9 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: dusk was falling in the Jungles of North Vietnam. It 10 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: was late August nineteen sixty seven. An Air Force Colonel 11 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: bud Day was lying in a muddy pit about the 12 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: size of a He had been there for days. One 13 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,839 Speaker 1: of his arms was broken in three places, his left 14 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: knee was badly damaged, and he couldn't see out of 15 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: his right eye. Bud Day had been captured in enemy territory. 16 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: He was a prisoner of the North Vietnamese Army, but 17 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: he wasn't in a prison. This was a little militia 18 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: camp in the middle of the wilderness. His guards were 19 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: a couple of teenage boys with rifles, and like most 20 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 1: teenage boys, they were getting bored in the short amount 21 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: of time that Bud had been in the camp, he 22 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: had already been tortured again and again, but he followed 23 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 1: a code of conduct, the same code of conduct that 24 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: the US military required of every person who becomes a 25 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:57,040 Speaker 1: prisoner of war. Give away no information except no special 26 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: favors from the enemy, and make every every effort to escape. 27 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: Bud hadn't told his captors anything, even when they strung 28 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,679 Speaker 1: him up by his ankles and he could feel the 29 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: bones in his broken arm stretched further apart. Special favors 30 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,800 Speaker 1: certainly didn't seem forthcoming, not that he would have accepted any. 31 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: His sense of honor would never allow it. But then 32 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: there was a part of the code about escape that 33 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: Bud thought was something he had to try. Darkness crept closer. 34 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,679 Speaker 1: The two kids who were supposed to be watching him 35 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: wandered a little further from the pit, chatting and laughing 36 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: about something. Using his good hand, Bud worked away at 37 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: the rope that was wound around his legs. He had 38 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: convinced his captors that he was unable to walk, so 39 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: the rope was only tied in grandy knots easy to 40 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: get out of. Even with Bud knew this would be 41 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: his only chance. They were planning to move him to 42 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: a real prison, and that would be impossible to escape. 43 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: He quickly untied one knot, and then another and another. 44 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: He loosened the ropes around his legs, and he listened 45 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: to the boy's distant laughter. His mind flashed to his wife, Dorry, 46 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: and four little kids waiting back in Arizona. He sent 47 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: a silent help me father up to heaven, and then 48 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: Bud Day crawled out of the bunker and into the night. 49 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: I'm Jr. Martinez and this is Medal of Honor Stories 50 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: of Courage. The Medal of Honor is the highest military 51 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: decoration in the United States, awarded for gallantry and bravery 52 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: and combat at the risk of life, above and beyond 53 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,000 Speaker 1: the call of duty. Each candidate must be approved all 54 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: the way up the chain of command, from the supervisory 55 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: officer in the field to the White House. This show 56 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: is about those heroes, what they did, what it meant, 57 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: and what their stories tell us about the nature of 58 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: courage and sacrifice. Bud Day would be the only American 59 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: serviceman ever to escape from a North Vietnamese prison and 60 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: make it all the way to South Vietnam. He would 61 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: stumble for days through the jungle with no shoes, no food, 62 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:43,599 Speaker 1: and terrible injuries, passing within inches of enemy soldiers, knowing 63 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: all the while that if he were captured again, he 64 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: would have to fight like hell to stay alive and 65 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,719 Speaker 1: to keep the code of conduct. Bud's story is one 66 00:04:54,760 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: of toughness and grit and fortitude, the kind afforded two 67 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: that can only come from a deep set faith in 68 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: country and family and in the concept of honor. While 69 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: this episode is about that stoic silence in the face 70 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: of brutal enemy pressure, it's also about the power of 71 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: speaking out. Because while Bud stayed mute to protect his 72 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:28,080 Speaker 1: fellow aviators, his wife Dory was shouting from the rooftops, 73 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:33,040 Speaker 1: using her voice to win freedom for prisoners of war. 74 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: As Americans, we take free speech for granted. How Bud 75 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: and Dory Day used their voices, frankly, how this whole 76 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: country used their voices during the Vietnam War, proves just 77 00:05:47,000 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: how powerful that right really is. The morning of August 78 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:12,039 Speaker 1: twenty sixth, nineteen sixty seven started as usual for Bud Day. 79 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: He woke up at the Air Force base in Fukat, 80 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: just south of the demilitarized zone in South Vietnam. The 81 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: day would have been hot and muggy. As always, he 82 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 1: recorded a message to be sent to Dory and the kids. 83 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 1: The couple had two boys and two girls, three of 84 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: them under the age of five. At four am, Bud 85 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:41,120 Speaker 1: had breakfast and then he got ready to fly. But 86 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: had been flying over North Vietnam for several months, one 87 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: of the most dangerous and top secret missions of the 88 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 1: entire war. He was commander of a team of supersonic 89 00:06:54,400 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: jet pilots flying over territory dotted with anti aircraft art artillery. 90 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,679 Speaker 1: Here he is talking about it. 91 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:08,039 Speaker 2: It was Arali Harry mission because probably sixty percent of 92 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 2: the time that you were in the north you were 93 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 2: getting shot at, and so I lost forty two percent 94 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 2: of my airplanes in the first six months we operated. 95 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: He had been born to a poor, hard scrabble family 96 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: in Iowa and grown up during the worst of the 97 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: Great Depression. He served in World War Two, then Korea. 98 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: One time he built out of an airplane and his 99 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: parachute didn't open, but he survived. He finished seven years 100 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: of schooling college plus a law degree in only four years. 101 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 1: He was just tough and discipline and driven beyond belief. 102 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: So to him, this morning in August was nothing special. 103 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:02,600 Speaker 1: He sized up his aircraft, not his favorite. The hardness 104 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,960 Speaker 1: in the back was lonky. He settled at the controls 105 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: in the back of the plane, and a pilot named 106 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:12,239 Speaker 1: Kip was at the front. Bud was older than Kip, 107 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: but then he was old for Vietnam. He had volunteered 108 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: to go at the age of forty one, a farewell 109 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: tour at the end of a long career, one more 110 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: round before he hung up his flight suit for good. 111 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: He'd initially been assigned to the three hundred and nine Squadron. 112 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: Bud loved their motto return with Honor, but pretty quickly 113 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 1: he'd been given this insanely treacherous, top secret mission. As commander, 114 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: it was up to Bud to pick the code name. 115 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: Other units were called things like gun Smoke or Typhoon 116 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:58,199 Speaker 1: or Tiger, not Buds. 117 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,439 Speaker 2: Or callsign was a Misty. That was a song of life, 118 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 2: and so that was our call sign. 119 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: And in case this doesn't ring a bell for you, 120 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: Misty is a romantic ballad by the crooner Johnny Mathis. 121 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: Look at me, I'm as helpless as as a hippy tree, 122 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: as helpless as a kitten up a tree. It doesn't 123 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: quite scream We're gonna shoot you out of the sky, 124 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: does it. But it totally works. Maybe it's because Bud 125 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: was an older guy a classic, or because he missed 126 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:46,679 Speaker 1: his wife, or maybe it just goes to prove when 127 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: you're as famously tough as Bud Day, you can call 128 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: your unit anything you want. Soon, Kipp and Bud were 129 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: ripping through the sky over North Vietnam at almost five 130 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,559 Speaker 1: hundred miles per hour, but when they were about a 131 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: mile away from their planned target, explosions ripped through the air. 132 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: Bud couldn't remember when he'd seen so much anti aircraft artillery. 133 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:18,480 Speaker 1: It was like the sky was on fire. They made 134 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 1: it through the barrage somehow without being hit. Bud told 135 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 1: Kip to take another pass over the target, so they 136 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: flew over it one more time. Their plane was hammered 137 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: with explosions again and again. Still it looked like they 138 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: were gonna make it out, and then Bud saw the missile. 139 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,880 Speaker 1: He knew what was coming. The aircraft took a direct hit. 140 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,880 Speaker 1: Every warning light on the instrument panel lit up, and 141 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: Bud yelled eject eject. They parachuted down. They were deep 142 00:10:56,960 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: in enemy territory, falling into the uncle. Bud blacked out 143 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:04,839 Speaker 1: during the fall, but he came to with a jolt 144 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: of searing pain. 145 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 2: My arm was fractured, damaged by name. The Marsham mask 146 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 2: didn't separate right and hipp any eye and damaged my eyes. 147 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:17,839 Speaker 3: So I wound up on the ground. 148 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,800 Speaker 1: Bud broke his arm in three places, a bone was 149 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: sticking through his skin. He had dislocated his knee, and 150 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: he couldn't see out of his right eye. 151 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,199 Speaker 2: Just got my radio off and got a call off 152 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 2: and told him I was on the ground alive, and 153 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:38,839 Speaker 2: young Zanda May just popped to the bush and captured me. 154 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:45,040 Speaker 1: His message had gotten through just in time. Help was 155 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 1: on the way, but he was surrounded by teenage boys 156 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: with rifles, and they pulled him further into the jungle, 157 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: further away from where his parachute was left, further away 158 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,439 Speaker 1: from Kip, whom they hadn't spotted. 159 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:02,959 Speaker 2: A few minutes later, or was there moving. A long 160 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,719 Speaker 2: helicopter came in and tried to rescue us, and I 161 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:07,319 Speaker 2: was gone. 162 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 1: The chopper got so close that he could see Kip 163 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: in its doorway, but the boys had their rifles trained 164 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: on Bud. He couldn't go anywhere. He watched as the 165 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:25,679 Speaker 1: helicopter dipped then lifted away. The teens were euphoric. They 166 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: had their prize. Bud was heartsick. He had been paraded 167 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: into a village that had been destroyed by American bombardments. 168 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: From there into the makeshift militia camp that you met 169 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: him in, he could see rice patties, and just beyond 170 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:48,719 Speaker 1: a dense expanse of jungle, he was pushed into a 171 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: muddy bunker, just a hole in the ground, really barely 172 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:57,959 Speaker 1: larger than his wiry five foot nine inch frame. His 173 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:02,079 Speaker 1: captors tied him up with a row, and Bud started 174 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 1: coming up with that escape plan almost immediately. 175 00:13:07,280 --> 00:13:10,599 Speaker 2: So I decided because it was obvious my eye was 176 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:15,199 Speaker 2: all bloodshot, I was blind, and my knee was pretty big, 177 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 2: and of course my arm was bustard, and. 178 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:23,200 Speaker 3: So they concluded I was not throughout. 179 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:26,439 Speaker 2: And when I tried to get me to move around 180 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 2: or do anything, I faked that I couldn't move at all, 181 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:31,200 Speaker 2: and I began to. 182 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,760 Speaker 1: Buy the A doctor arrived and set his arm in 183 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: a makeshift cast, but Bud could tell the bones weren't 184 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: properly aligned. Things got progressively worse from there. The soldiers 185 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: wanted him to talk, to give them intel. They beat 186 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: him with rifle butts. They staged a mock execution, holding 187 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:57,920 Speaker 1: a gun to his head. They hung him from his 188 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: ankles for hours. To them, he wasn't an enemy combatant 189 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: protected by the rules of war. 190 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:14,080 Speaker 2: The Vietnamese never recognized as Geneva Convention, so their possession 191 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 2: was that you were a criminal. They could do anything 192 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 2: to you they wanted to do. 193 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 1: Bud knew the torture would get worse when the real 194 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 1: soldiers arrived, and they were coming soon. One of his 195 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 1: jailers had drawn a jeep in the mud and said 196 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:37,440 Speaker 1: a word that Bud understood. Hanoi the capital city of 197 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: North Vietnam. So he decided he had to run that night, 198 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 1: loosening the rope on his leg, waiting for his teenage 199 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: guards to look the other way. 200 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 2: First time, both of them were facing a different direction. 201 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 2: I slept out of this hole over the price patty. 202 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: He was dressed in only his undershorts, He had no shoes, 203 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: and he was weak from hunger. He ran towards the jungle, 204 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: his bare feet sliding on the mud. 205 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 2: My foot hit the bottom of thatsel, just like stopping 206 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 2: out up banana piil. My feet went out from under men. 207 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 2: I landed right on the bus door, and I'd almost 208 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 2: bet my tongue off. The came from screaming when I 209 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 2: hit the deck, so I couldn't wave it and hear it. 210 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,520 Speaker 2: Wait at a bout a minute a minute happened nothing, 211 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 2: so I thought. I got up and headed south. 212 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: He would have to travel roughly thirty miles to get 213 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: to South Vietnam and safety. He was just beginning to 214 00:15:41,560 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: pick his way through the jungle when a shrieking sound 215 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:50,239 Speaker 1: cut the air. American B fifty two's were soaring overhead, 216 00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: not to look for Bud, but to drop bombs on 217 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:59,600 Speaker 1: the enemy encampments. One landed one hundred yards from Bud. 218 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: He was hit with shrapnel. Now his bare feet were 219 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: lacerated and bleeding. The next day brought another bomb and 220 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: his ear drums were ruptured. Still he pressed on. 221 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 2: I survived basically on water because there was no food. 222 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,200 Speaker 2: The best I could do was capture a couple of 223 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 2: these frogs. 224 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 3: I ate him. That's not a good deal. 225 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,600 Speaker 1: After several days in the jungle, he made it to 226 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: the river that separated North and South Vietnam. He crept 227 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: down the bank and lowered himself into the water, fighting 228 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: the current to make it to the other side. His 229 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: fingers touched the far bank. Unbelievably, he had reached South Vietnam. 230 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: By then, he was so starving that he was delusional. 231 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 2: I lost track of time. I lost my ability to 232 00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 2: start things out. 233 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: He saw two Marine Corps helicopters in the sky not 234 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: too far away. There were replenishing supplies. It could only 235 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: mean one thing. A base was nearby. He could get there, 236 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:18,919 Speaker 1: he knew it. He got closer and closer, hobbling and stumbling. 237 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 3: I was so left done. 238 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 2: About a mile of Marine Corps base at Contens popped 239 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 2: out of the brush. 240 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 1: At this point bud Day could barely walk. But he 241 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:33,360 Speaker 1: was also bud Day. 242 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 2: I just said to myself, I'd come this far and 243 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,160 Speaker 2: sawnd her to these last years. So I took off front. 244 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 1: He ran as best as he could, but the NVA 245 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: fired at him. Bud took a bullet in the left 246 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:54,199 Speaker 1: eye and the left hand, and he collapsed. His escape 247 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:59,040 Speaker 1: was over. He was going back to North Vietnam. He 248 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:02,840 Speaker 1: had been close to freedom. He wouldn't be that close 249 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:22,879 Speaker 1: again for five and a half years. It was nineteen 250 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:27,239 Speaker 1: sixty nine, two years since Bud's capture. He had been 251 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: moved from prison camp to prison camp, beaten and starved, 252 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:39,520 Speaker 1: his broken arm purposely rebroken, and time and time again interrogated, 253 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: he refused to give any information other than what the 254 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: Code of Conduct stipulated, his name, his rank, his date 255 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: of birth, and his serial number. 256 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 2: They really tortured me, hung by the arms and crippled 257 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 2: me pretty badly. Both my hands were curled up. I 258 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 2: can feed myself if I couldn't do anything. 259 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 1: He told himself. He had to keep the faith he 260 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: couldn't break. It was better to die than to say something, 261 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,760 Speaker 1: even the name of his unit Misty, that might harm 262 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:19,440 Speaker 1: the aviators that were still flying over Vietnam. He remembered 263 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: the motto of his first squadron, return with honor. He 264 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 1: was determined to do just that. Every night, he prayed 265 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,480 Speaker 1: for strength, and he prayed for Dorry and the kids. 266 00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: He hoped they knew he was still alive. Bud spent 267 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: most of his time in a prison in Hanoi, nicknamed 268 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: the Hanoi Hilton. It housed hundreds of POWs and it 269 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:47,520 Speaker 1: was miserable. 270 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 2: It was just absolute twelth. You know, of lats all 271 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:55,680 Speaker 2: over the place and rat droppings and there, so everybody 272 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 2: had dysentery. In Diarhta, we were all about seven other 273 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 2: calories of day. So you're all eva shaded and big 274 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:06,919 Speaker 2: stomachs and big sunken eyes on your health was very 275 00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 2: precring us. 276 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,439 Speaker 3: The lovely conditions were just really at the bottom. 277 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: The prison was a series of long, interconnected brick buildings. 278 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 1: The windows were covered with batting, so light barely crept 279 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: in the air was trapped in stale. The heat was unbearable. 280 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: Bud spent months in solitary confinement as punishment for not talking, 281 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:39,240 Speaker 1: and those cells were as small as six by six feet. 282 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: When he wasn't in solitary, he shared his cell with 283 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:49,040 Speaker 1: the young John McCain. Bud and another pilot had nurse 284 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,760 Speaker 1: McCain back to health when he first arrived in prison, 285 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: broken and close to death. That was one of the 286 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:01,680 Speaker 1: ways prisoners resisted their terrible situation. They took care of 287 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: each other. Another way was by being organized. The prison 288 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:11,200 Speaker 1: guards forbade organization of any kind, but the men in 289 00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:16,399 Speaker 1: the Hanoi. Hilton were military pilots. Hierarchy gave them a 290 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: sense of normalcy, and because of his rank, Bud was 291 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: a commander within the prison. This meant he was dealt 292 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,879 Speaker 1: even harsher punishments. The first to feel the wrath of 293 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: the guards. Second problem, to get organized, you have to 294 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,000 Speaker 1: be able to communicate. But the POWs weren't allowed to 295 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: talk between cells, and to disobey meant torture. So they 296 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: developed a tap code. It's kind of like a Morse code. 297 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 1: Each letter of the alphabet except K was given a 298 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,399 Speaker 1: short set of two taps. They would spell out words 299 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: letter by pains, taking letter. It was life's blood for 300 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: the POWs. 301 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:07,439 Speaker 2: So despite where they might have you, unless I had 302 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 2: you so wrapped up in irons that you absolutely could 303 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 2: not move, while you could communicate, you could tap. 304 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 3: That's sorry, always know what was going on. 305 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:21,000 Speaker 1: Every Sunday morning, Bud, as commander of his prison unit, 306 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 1: used his knuckles to tap out C C, which stood 307 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:30,840 Speaker 1: for Church Call. That same tap would be sent down 308 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:35,119 Speaker 1: the whole line of cells in his section. Then the 309 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:39,199 Speaker 1: men stood in their cells, said the pledge of Allegiance, 310 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: the Lord's Prayer, and prayed for the safety of their 311 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: fellow POWs, Bud and his men had to keep the 312 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: faith somehow. At the Hanoi Hilton, there was a total 313 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 1: lack of contact with the outside world. They had no 314 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,159 Speaker 1: way of knowing what was happening in the war or 315 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: how close they might be to freedom. 316 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,000 Speaker 3: I believed that the country was going to come and 317 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 3: get me. 318 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 2: I never ever came to the conclosure that my country 319 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 2: had just got to dunk me, like some years to AMMO. 320 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,719 Speaker 1: The only news in prison came from a steady stream 321 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:19,920 Speaker 1: of propaganda piped in over a loudspeaker. The POWs called 322 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: it CBS, short for you Ready for this camp bullshit system. 323 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,280 Speaker 1: There was no way for the prisoners to sort fact 324 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: from fiction. CBS reported on devastating natural disasters in America 325 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 1: and on implausible triumphs in the North Vietnamese Army. And 326 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: it reported that back in the US, while Bud was 327 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: keeping his mouth shut and being tortured for it, countless 328 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: others were speaking out against the war but thought it 329 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: was lies, just one more thing the prison guards made 330 00:23:58,040 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: up in order to torment the pod. 331 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 2: As we started hearing about the Hiptis and Leanna war demonstrations, 332 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 2: all that stuff. I basically just gott a all of that. 333 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,160 Speaker 2: What else could the commedists tell you would hurt you more? 334 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 2: Would be more moralizing than for you to thank the 335 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 2: back on the home front, Nolan's supporting you. 336 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: That, of course, was far from the truth. But because 337 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: more and more Americans were starting to question the war, 338 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 1: the government was trying to keep the plight of the 339 00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:34,879 Speaker 1: POW's a secret. They worried it would add more fuel 340 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:38,880 Speaker 1: to the anti war fire, and so the military ordered 341 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:43,800 Speaker 1: the wives of POWs to observe a code of conduct 342 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: similar to buds. Keep to yourself, don't speak to the press, 343 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: don't ask too many questions about where your husband was 344 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: or what was being done to rescue him. They called 345 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 1: it the Quiet policy. So back in Arizona, Dorry was 346 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:08,359 Speaker 1: living in a kind of a nightmarish limbo. She knew 347 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,840 Speaker 1: Bud had been shot down. She knew he had survived 348 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 1: his initial crash, but that's it. Because North Vietnam refused 349 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 1: to officially acknowledge holding any POW's, it was impossible to 350 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 1: know for certain if Bud was still alive or where 351 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: he was. Dory and Bud had been together at that 352 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: point for decades. They had met as teenagers in Iowa. 353 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: She was the little sister of one of his friends. 354 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: Her family was Norwegian, so Bud nicknamed her the Viking. 355 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 1: The two had started writing letters back when he had 356 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,159 Speaker 1: gone off to World War II. Dorry told him she 357 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:55,919 Speaker 1: was waiting for him and praying for him to be safe. 358 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,160 Speaker 1: Now she couldn't write to Bud. She couldn't do anything 359 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:07,880 Speaker 1: but keep praying, just wait and hope exactly what Bud 360 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 1: was doing. 361 00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,680 Speaker 2: I didn't intend to die in a chrome place if 362 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:13,480 Speaker 2: I could avoid it. 363 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: But the prison guards didn't make survival easy. In the 364 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,959 Speaker 1: summer of sixty nine, the torture got worse. They introduced 365 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: something called the fan belt, a four foot long rubber 366 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 1: strip cut from a tire. 367 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:31,399 Speaker 3: I had some. 368 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,440 Speaker 2: Absolutely brutal torture sessions, and two or three times, frankly, 369 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,639 Speaker 2: I would have preferred to die. I was in black 370 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 2: irons and never made me with a fan belt. I 371 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 2: can remember counting until three hundred struck, and I just said, 372 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 2: why am I wasting my time counting? 373 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 3: Here? They're gonna kill me, you know, and I hope 374 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 3: they do. 375 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:58,480 Speaker 1: Here's what Bud Day didn't just tell you that intensive 376 00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: beating lasted more than six days. By the end, he 377 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: was close to death. Bud believed that if he managed 378 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: to live, his physical suffering would stop eventually, but his 379 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:20,119 Speaker 1: mental anguish would never end if he gave up even 380 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: a scrap of important information to his tormentors. 381 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 3: That was Bud. 382 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 1: Back in the States, Dorry had reached a totally different conclusion. 383 00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: The Viking decided she had to start talking. Dory was 384 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: through with keeping quiet. She wanted to feel like she 385 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:06,160 Speaker 1: was maybe making a difference. She began to fight by 386 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:12,080 Speaker 1: speaking out. Her friend Mike Newhouse remembers how hard the 387 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: Viking fought for her husband. 388 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 4: I thought Modday was the bravest, toughest, most determined sob 389 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 4: I'd ever met until I met Doris. 390 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: We've been calling her Dory, but her name was Doris, 391 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: as in Doris Day, not that Doris Day, the famous actress, 392 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:35,399 Speaker 1: which is why the Viking went by Dorry. 393 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 4: She was an absolute tiger, you know. The State Department, 394 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:46,240 Speaker 4: after her continued and persistent please, pretty much told her 395 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:51,360 Speaker 4: to go home, do your knitting and kind of stay 396 00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 4: out of our hair. And she wasn't about to accept that. 397 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: She banded together with other POWs and missing in Action 398 00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: wives to form the National League of Families. The public 399 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: believed that any prisoners of war were being treated according 400 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: to the Geneva Convention, but the wives had learned the 401 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 1: truth about the torture, so they defied. To keep quiet 402 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: policy and the hopes of putting pressure on Washington. They 403 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: spoke to the press and gave speeches, sometimes being heckled 404 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:31,440 Speaker 1: by people who hated this war and believed, as the 405 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: NVA prison guards did, that these men weren't POWs but criminals. 406 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: Around the country, wives pleaded on behalf of their husbands, 407 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:48,160 Speaker 1: asking for the world to pay attention. Their activism worked. 408 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,320 Speaker 1: For the first time, the United States publicly listed the 409 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:58,240 Speaker 1: number of men it believed to be held prisoner. Millions 410 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 1: across the nation, including many who opposed the war, bought 411 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: metal bracelets with the names of American prisoners as a 412 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: show of support. President Nixon promised the wise that he 413 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:16,200 Speaker 1: would hold North Vietnam accountable for the POW's treatment, regardless 414 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: of what was happening in the conflict itself. 415 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 5: What I have assured these very courageous women is this 416 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 5: government will do everything that it possibly can to separate 417 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 5: out the prisoner issue. And have it handled as it 418 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 5: should be as a separate issue on a humane basis. 419 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:41,560 Speaker 1: Dory was working NonStop, writing letters to the North Vietnamese government, 420 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: speaking passionately to the press. She had the governor of 421 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:50,440 Speaker 1: Arizona on speed dial. She bought a plane ticket to 422 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:55,240 Speaker 1: the Paris Peace Talks to confront the North Vietnamese diplomatic mission. 423 00:30:56,000 --> 00:31:02,440 Speaker 4: She collared, everybody, powers, players, anybody associated with the talks, 424 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 4: and you said, damn it. Bring my husband hold. 425 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 1: She and other wives brought thousands of letters to give 426 00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: to the North Vietnamese delegation, all from citizens pleading for 427 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:20,479 Speaker 1: the humane treatment and return of the POWs. The public 428 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,600 Speaker 1: pressure embarrassed the North Vietnamese, and all the way over 429 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:30,160 Speaker 1: in Hanoi, Bud could feel something starting to shift. Some 430 00:31:30,360 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: of the worst torture abated, and after years of no 431 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: contact at all, Dory was able to send a package 432 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,880 Speaker 1: of photographs to Bud. He pored over the pictures of 433 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: his children growing up without him. Their oldest Stephen, was 434 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: a teenager, not a kid anymore. Bud's hands still didn't work. 435 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:58,560 Speaker 1: The whippings had left him stooped, barely able to walk, 436 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: but even he's unbroken. He hadn't said a word to 437 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:08,720 Speaker 1: his captors that he was ashamed of. By nineteen seventy, 438 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: three years into his captivity, Bud was moved to Room seven. 439 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,600 Speaker 1: It held the prisoners considered to be the hardest cases, 440 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:23,120 Speaker 1: the ones who were most defiant. James Stockdelle was there, 441 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: you might remember him as Ross Perrot's running mate during 442 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: his nineteen ninety two presidential campaign. And a pilot named 443 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: Robbie Reisner, who had been at POW since nineteen sixty five. 444 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:38,280 Speaker 1: And John McCain. 445 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:42,160 Speaker 2: Of course, where you live was somebody for as long 446 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 2: as we did. You build up a kind of a 447 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 2: relationship that is just undescribable. But I know more about 448 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 2: John than his mother, his father, and his wives in total. 449 00:32:56,280 --> 00:33:01,560 Speaker 1: One day in February of seventy one, Rob decided he 450 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:04,000 Speaker 1: was going to give a church service for the men 451 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: in that room. The guards forbaded, but it's hard to 452 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:10,320 Speaker 1: forbid something to men. 453 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:11,680 Speaker 3: Who've got little to lose. 454 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: They were midway through the service when the guards came 455 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:20,440 Speaker 1: storming in. They seized Reisner and led him off to 456 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:25,120 Speaker 1: a torture session. Bud jumped on one of the concrete bunks. 457 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,160 Speaker 1: He waved his hands in the air and started singing 458 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 1: the star spangled banner. The other men in the room 459 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:37,239 Speaker 1: turned to look at him, and at first they were 460 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 1: stunned silent, and then they joined in. They sang at 461 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: the top of their lungs. The melody traveled through the dank, 462 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:55,880 Speaker 1: filthy building, and soon all of the POWs, hundreds of them, 463 00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: were singing. They sang every song they knew, one after 464 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: the other. The guards were stemy, they couldn't punish all 465 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:09,800 Speaker 1: of them. Eventually they lined them up at the point 466 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: of bayonets. It made an impression on John McCain waitness 467 00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: I was saying the national anthem, a response to having 468 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:20,400 Speaker 1: one rifle pointed at the spage. 469 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 3: Well, that was something to behold by. 470 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:26,919 Speaker 4: Now. 471 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:31,239 Speaker 1: Bud was forty six. He had been a prisoner for 472 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:36,640 Speaker 1: four and a half years. But his defiance and his 473 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: silence stayed true, not just for himself before his men 474 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:46,960 Speaker 1: in even worse shape than he was, Like McCain, they 475 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 1: made maybe beg me, there's maybe encourage men and ordered 476 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: me back to life. 477 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 3: But more than that, but show me how to second one. 478 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: Self respect and my honor out as you did. 479 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:02,279 Speaker 3: I can never repay it. 480 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:08,120 Speaker 1: Dorry meanwhile, was telling her story in even wider circles. 481 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 1: After Paris, she went to Switzerland to speak to the 482 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:16,120 Speaker 1: Red Cross, and Sweden to the North Vietnamese Embassy. And 483 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:20,200 Speaker 1: she kept Bud alive for her kids, playing home movies, 484 00:35:20,760 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 1: telling stories, making sure they believed, really believed that someday 485 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:32,000 Speaker 1: he could make it home. By Christmas of seventy two, 486 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:36,360 Speaker 1: five and a half years after Bud had been captured, 487 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:42,400 Speaker 1: that homecoming felt within reach. The prisoners at the Hilton 488 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: heard bomb screaming close than closer. American B fifty two's 489 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: were bombing Hanoi. 490 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:55,520 Speaker 2: Suddenly nine o'clock I led literally hundreds of bombers or 491 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:57,319 Speaker 2: over annoy dropping bombs, and it. 492 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:02,240 Speaker 1: Was just the earth was firebright, ag the ground began 493 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,840 Speaker 1: to shake, debris started to fall off the ceiling. But 494 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:06,920 Speaker 1: Bud was elated. 495 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,320 Speaker 2: But that was a wonderful sound. Afraid of My people 496 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:16,320 Speaker 2: were just royally ecstatic. Everybody knew three we started getting released. 497 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,120 Speaker 2: In February of nineteen Subnets. 498 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:23,920 Speaker 1: Bud and John McCain were together on the plane to 499 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: Clark Airbase in the Philippines. Bud had been imprisoned for 500 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:32,640 Speaker 1: five and a half years. He had just turned forty 501 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:37,160 Speaker 1: eight years old. His teeth were broken, he was death 502 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:41,480 Speaker 1: in one ear. His arm was permanently bent, but he 503 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,760 Speaker 1: left the medical facility at Clark with his uniform pressed 504 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:51,280 Speaker 1: and his backstraight. He was returning with honor. A plane 505 00:36:51,360 --> 00:36:55,040 Speaker 1: took him to California. He was told that as the 506 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,120 Speaker 1: most senior officer in the group, he would need to 507 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:02,480 Speaker 1: give a speech. Blud stood in the doorway of the airplane, 508 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: scanning the crowd for the faces of his family. He 509 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 1: walked down the steps, saluted the officers waiting there, and 510 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:18,000 Speaker 1: stepped to the microphone. He started by thanking God, his country, 511 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 1: and President Nixon. And then he heard the click of 512 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:28,759 Speaker 1: heels racing across the tarmac. It was the Viking. There's 513 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,759 Speaker 1: a photo of what happened next. I can't show it 514 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,920 Speaker 1: to you, but I swear if you want to know 515 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:38,360 Speaker 1: what pure elation looks like, you should look it up. 516 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,279 Speaker 1: It was like an orchestra was playing that only they 517 00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:47,239 Speaker 1: could hear, just like Bud's favorite song with its beautiful, 518 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:58,919 Speaker 1: super romantic lyrics and a thousand violins. Begin to pay 519 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 1: when I see the photo, even I get misty, Dorry 520 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:09,359 Speaker 1: rushing forward, arms out Bud in a crouch, rail thin, 521 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,560 Speaker 1: stretching out his hands to catch her, A wide eyed, 522 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:17,560 Speaker 1: radiant years in the making smile on his face. 523 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:19,400 Speaker 2: I get missed. 524 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:31,759 Speaker 1: The moment you'rely. When Bud and Dorry got back home 525 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:35,319 Speaker 1: to Arizona, they renew their wedding vowels. They had been 526 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 1: married for twenty four years. Bud worked tirelessly on behalf 527 00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:43,080 Speaker 1: of the men who had been POW's along with him, 528 00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:47,279 Speaker 1: riding them up for metals, helping them get back to 529 00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:52,240 Speaker 1: work to a somewhat normal life. He spoke about his experiences. 530 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:55,880 Speaker 1: Mostly he just wanted to fly again. 531 00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:57,520 Speaker 3: Soon. 532 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,799 Speaker 1: He was the vice commander of a fighter wing. That's 533 00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:03,480 Speaker 1: where he was when he learned he would receive the 534 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:08,120 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor. He was awarded it in nineteen seventy 535 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 1: six from President Gerald Ford. 536 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:12,040 Speaker 3: I felt quite humble. 537 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,920 Speaker 2: I had seen enough combat to know if there were 538 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:20,960 Speaker 2: certainly a lot of acts of courage that probably far 539 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:25,279 Speaker 2: exceeded with you, sorry yourself doing. 540 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,000 Speaker 1: He retired in early seventy seven and went to work 541 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,840 Speaker 1: as a lawyer representing pilots that had bumped up against 542 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:39,840 Speaker 1: Air Force bureaucracy. He helped POWs, including his old roommate 543 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:44,879 Speaker 1: James Stockdale received disability payments. He was in and out 544 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:49,480 Speaker 1: of the hospital himself. Some of his pain faded, though 545 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:53,880 Speaker 1: his sense of defiance did not. After the Hanoi Hilton 546 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,840 Speaker 1: was torn down, Bud got his hands on some of 547 00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 1: the bricks. He mounted them in his garage. 548 00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:04,040 Speaker 2: I thought, that's kind of a all of my triumph. 549 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:08,040 Speaker 2: You know, they got no jail and I got to bracks. 550 00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:13,120 Speaker 1: In the summer of nineteen ninety five, Bud saw a 551 00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:17,680 Speaker 1: news story that made him, for lack of a better word, furious. 552 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,160 Speaker 1: It said that the US government was no longer allowing 553 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:27,600 Speaker 1: military retirees over the age of sixty five into military hospitals. 554 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:31,279 Speaker 1: They would have to rely on Medicare, which meant that 555 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,880 Speaker 1: they would have to pay for part of their healthcare. 556 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:39,279 Speaker 1: Bud was seventy years old, He was disabled, and when 557 00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:42,279 Speaker 1: he signed up for the military back in nineteen forty two, 558 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:46,120 Speaker 1: he had been told that if he served twenty years, 559 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:51,640 Speaker 1: he'd have free lifetime medical benefits. He'd kept the code 560 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:54,560 Speaker 1: of conduct, but had the government kept up with their 561 00:40:54,680 --> 00:41:00,480 Speaker 1: end of the bargain, he didn't think so. He loved 562 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:05,600 Speaker 1: his country, he loved it, but this was wrong, and 563 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,960 Speaker 1: as an American he had the right to speak out 564 00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,240 Speaker 1: to fight for what he believed, so bud Day decided 565 00:41:13,280 --> 00:41:18,320 Speaker 1: to sue the government. That battle would take five years. 566 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:22,680 Speaker 1: He appeared in courthouse after courthouse. He stood on the 567 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:26,640 Speaker 1: Capitol steps in the rain. He got John McCain by 568 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:30,600 Speaker 1: that point, a senator from Arizona and a future presidential 569 00:41:30,680 --> 00:41:36,160 Speaker 1: candidate involved. He wouldn't let it go, and finally, in 570 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: two thousand, his advocacy paid off with the passage of 571 00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 1: the Tricare for Life Bill. Military veterans would be able 572 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:50,160 Speaker 1: to use military and civilian hospitals for their care and 573 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:54,279 Speaker 1: have access to low cost prescriptions for as long as 574 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:59,560 Speaker 1: they lived. But in his persistence made it happen. He 575 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:04,040 Speaker 1: took care theyra of his squad once again. Over his 576 00:42:04,200 --> 00:42:08,400 Speaker 1: military career, bud Day received seventy medals for his service, 577 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:13,400 Speaker 1: but until the end of his life. When asked what 578 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:21,000 Speaker 1: he was proudest of, Bud invariably answered, my wife. Bud 579 00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:24,239 Speaker 1: died at the age of eighty eight. Doyd lived to 580 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:29,480 Speaker 1: ninety five. She passed earlier this year. Theirs was a 581 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:35,440 Speaker 1: marriage of equals, the Viking and the commander. They were 582 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:39,359 Speaker 1: strong together and just as strong a part because they 583 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,560 Speaker 1: shared a core belief in duty to others and honor. 584 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:48,040 Speaker 1: They were tireless and defiant. No wonder they made such 585 00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:52,439 Speaker 1: a difference, and no wonder they were so much in love. 586 00:42:53,320 --> 00:43:07,360 Speaker 1: I am too misty and too much in love me. 587 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:27,920 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor. Stories of Courage is written by Meredith 588 00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:31,719 Speaker 1: Rollins and produced by Meredith Rollins and Jess Shane. Our 589 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:36,040 Speaker 1: editor is Ben Nadafh Hoffrey. Sound design and additional music 590 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:41,359 Speaker 1: by Jake Gorsky. Our executive producer is Constanza Gayarto. Fact 591 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:46,160 Speaker 1: checking by Arthur Gombert's, original music by Eric Phillips. Production 592 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:50,000 Speaker 1: support by Suzanne Gabber. Special thanks to the Congressional Medal 593 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:54,120 Speaker 1: of Honor Society, the Brigadier General Bud and Doris Day 594 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:58,320 Speaker 1: Interpretive Center in South Sue City, Nebraska, and the film 595 00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:04,000 Speaker 1: The Keep Quiet Pop How Vietnam Pow wives were silenced 596 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,719 Speaker 1: by the American story. If you want to learn more 597 00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,160 Speaker 1: about this story, take a look at our show notes, 598 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: where we have some of the resources we use to 599 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:14,160 Speaker 1: put together this episode. 600 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:15,640 Speaker 3: We want to hear from you. 601 00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:19,719 Speaker 1: Send us your personal story of courage or highlight someone 602 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:23,880 Speaker 1: else's bravery. You might hear your stories on future episodes 603 00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:27,280 Speaker 1: of Metal of Honor or see them on our social channels. 604 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:33,040 Speaker 1: Just email us at Metal of Honor at Pushkin dot Fm. 605 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:36,880 Speaker 1: I'm your host, JR. Martinez