Dr. John McCain and Bud Day
I have talked many times in the past about Bud Day, one of America's greatest heroes. Bud Day is the second-most decorated military man in US history, topped only by Douglas MacArthur. He is the sort of man for whom the Congressional Medal of Honor, which he received, seems ridiculously inadequate. He should be somebody that children learn of in grammar school.
Karl Rove has an anecdote about
Bud Day and John McCain during their time in the Hanoi Hilton, that will bring tears to your eyes; I know they did to mine:
Mr. Day relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."
The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.
Read it all.
Labels: Bud Day, John McCain
