Your article about Col. Bud Day on Saturday, "Ex-POW eager to help McCain," reminded me of my own years in the U.S. Air Force, where I served with Col. Day.

From 1975-1979, I had the privilege of serving in the U.S. Air Force as a JAG attorney assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Eglin was and is an "Armament Development and Test Center" and had a large legal office with about 20 attorneys. I, a captain, served first as assistant claims officer, then claims officer and finally, as chief of civil law. I was also adviser to the Officers' Wives Club of which Col. Day's wife, Dorie, served as an officer even before Col. Day arrived "home" from Vietnam.

During that time, Col. Day was finally released from being a POW. He was assigned to Eglin AFB, where he tried to return to flying status but was physically unable to react in the way that is necessary for a fighter pilot after seven years of torture in the "Hanoi Hilton.” He had gone into captivity as a major, been promoted "on schedule" while "in jail,” and came out as a full "bird colonel" with eagles on his uniform. He still had a little time to go to retirement and, being a lawyer, was re-assigned from flying status to the base legal office. It created quite a stir among all of us who were young captains, but especially me, when Col. Day was given the corner office in my area. It happened to be next to mine.

Col. Day was accorded the status befitting the most decorated hero of the Vietnam War. He was allowed to take on "special projects" of interest to him, including time writing his own memoirs. That also allowed him time to talk to young Ccaptains like me about his experiences "in jai.” He took seriously his duty to resist the enemy and to try to escape, which he did three times, being shot and returned to captivity on each occasion. He was the only prisoner to make it as far as "across the river" before being recaptured. Captivity was brutal. His captors were savages. They kept the inmates separated and tried to brainwash them. Most of the time, fellow prisoners had to communicate in code, passing on messages from one cell to the next by tapping laboriously. Once in a while, they actually got to see each other.

During the time I knew Bud Day, he spoke affectionately of his friends and fellow prisoners, among whom was Sen. and now presidential candidate John McCain. He was also very opinionated about those who failed to perceive the realities of the war. He held in contempt Jane Fonda, whose propaganda films he was forced to view by his Communist captors, demanding that he "denounce" his country.

(About 20 years later, my wife and I got to meet and talk with Jane Fonda here in Thomasville, when she helped sponsor what became the Thomasville Community Resource Center. Because of Col. Day, before "working with Jane," I insisted on discussing with her the war in order to put aside the feelings I had developed as a veteran. She graciously met with my wife and I, and explained she didn't like the war but had made mistakes and had been "duped" and "used" and was apologizing to veterans wherever she had the opportunity. She made some great contributions to Thomasville).

I am grateful for the men and women like Bud Day and John McCain who have served our country and sacrificed in ways that few can imagine and then have returned to give the rest of us the benefit of their wisdom. I hate war. I wish it were unnecessary. But the infamous "911" attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, shows that Osama Bin Laden and a large contingent of Muslim extremists hate America, capitalism and free enterprise, and are determined to make war on us and to kill innocent Americans if they can. I'm grateful for leaders who are willing to take the war on terror seriously. May God bless us all to see clearly, to learn from those who have experienced evil, and to overcome it.



Doug Silvis is a Thomasville attorney.