Both of them said the same thing. Focus and determination. No matter if you're in a POW prison or what kind of work you do for a living. They were very humble about it. Col. Thorsness had a career as a politician after his release. Col. Day became a successful lawyer. Neither of them ever thought about allowing age, injuries or various other issues keep them from pursuing other careers.
I'll tell ya what, listening to a man tell you about how they severely broke his arm so he wouldn't attempt another escape is not something easily listened to. Or how they would wake up in the mornings to a guard coming in and breaking their ribs with a bamboo pole. They were tortured even when the enemy had no info to gain, just tortured because they were Americans.
Col. Day:
POW:
Taken back to his original camp, Day was tortured for escaping, breaking his right arm again. He then was moved to several prison camps near Hanoi, where he was periodically beaten, starved, and tortured. In December 1967, Day shared a cell with Navy Lieutenant Commander and future Senator and Presidential Candidate John McCain who was even more seriously injured and emaciated. Air Force Major Norris Overly nursed both back to health, and McCain later devised a makeshift splint of bamboo and rags that helped heal Day's seriously atrophied arm.[4]
On March 14, 1973, Day was released after five years and seven months as a North Vietnamese prisoner. Within three days Day was reunited with his wife, Doris Sorensen Day, and four children at
March Air Force Base, California. On March 4, 1976, President
Gerald Ford awarded Day the Medal of Honor for his personal bravery while a captive in North Vietnam.
Day had been promoted to
Colonel while a prisoner, and decided to remain in the Air Force in hopes of being promoted to
Brigadier General. Although initially too weak to resume operational flying, he spent a year in physical rehabilitation and with 13 separate medical waivers, was returned to active flying status. He underwent conversion training to the
F-4 Phantom II and was appointed vice commander of the
33rd Tactical Fighter Wing at
Eglin Air Force Base,
Florida.
[edit] Retirement
After being passed over for nomination to brigadier general, Day retired from active duty in 1977 to resume his practice of law in Florida. At his retirement he had nearly 8,000 total flying hours, 4,900 in single engine jets, and had flown the
F-80 Shooting Star,
F-84 Thunderjet,
F-100 Super Sabre,
F-101 Voodoo,
F-104 Starfighter,
F-105 Thunderchief,
F-106 Delta Dart,
F-4 Phantom II,
A-4 Skyhawk,
A-7 Corsair II,
CF-5 Tiger,
F-15 Eagle jet fighters.
Following his retirement, Day wrote an autobiographical account of his experiences as a prisoner of war,
Return with Honor, followed by
Duty, Honor, Country, which updated his autobiography to include his post-Air Force years. Among other endeavors, in 1996 Day filed a
class action lawsuit for
breach of contract against the United States government on behalf of military retirees who were stripped of their military medical care benefits at age 65 and told to apply for
Medicare. Although winning the case in the district court in 2001, the judgment against the U.S. was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2002. The U.S. Congress later redressed this situation by establishing the "TRICARE For Life" (TFL) program, which restored TRICARE military medical benefits for career military retirees over the age of 65, making the retirees eligible for both programs with Medicare as the primary payer and TRICARE as the secondary payer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Day
Col. Thorsness:
POW
On April 30, 1967, on his 93rd mission (seven shy of completing his tour), Thorsness was shot down by a
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 over
North Vietnam while flying aircraft F-105F 62-4447.
He had flown the morning mission to the Hanoi area as Wild Weasel leader, then assigned himself as a spare aircraft for the afternoon mission because of a shortage of crews. One of Carbine flight aborted with radio problems, and Thorsness filled in as Carbine 03, leading the second element.
[10]
While still inbound over northwest North Vietnam, communications were disrupted when an
ejection seat emergency beeper went off aboard one of the F-105s. Despite being observed by early warning radar locations, two MiG-21s approached Carbine flight from behind and unseen. Just as Thorsness got an instrument indication that the flight was being painted by airborne radar, he saw an F-105 going down in flames that eventually was identified as his own wingman, Carbine 04 (1LT Robert Abbott, in F105D 59-1726), shot down by an
Atoll missile. Within a minute, his own aircraft was also hit with a
heat-seeking missile fired by the MiGs.
He and his backseater, Capt. Harold Johnson, ejected. Separated by a ridge, they were the object of a three-hour rescue effort involving the entire strike force as a covering force. Two F-105D aircraft were directed by Crown to provide
RESCAP (as Tomahawk flight) until the SAR forces could arrive on station. Both aircraft were hit by Atoll missiles from
MiG 21s, with F-105D 61-0130, piloted by Capt. Joe Abbott being shot down, and wingman Maj. Al Lenski limping back to Thailand. In addition, one of the A-1 "Sandy" aircraft was hit while one of the rescue
Jolly Greens developed hydraulic problems and had to abort,
[11] thus ending the SAR mission. Poor communications, heavy MiG engagements and standard operating procedures which did not allow only one SAR helicopter to remain on station,
[12] made the effort futile and all the men were captured. SAR forces were again launched the next day but none of the downed airmen were located. The mission is described in great detail, including verbatim transcripts of radio transmissions, in both
Thud Ridge[13] and
Thud,
[14], written by Col. Broughton, member of Waco flight and another of the RESCAP crews involved in the incident.
His uncooperativeness towards his captors earned him a year in solitary and severe back injuries under torture. The Medal of Honor was awarded by the United States Congress during his captivity, but not announced until his release in 1973 to prevent the Vietnamese from using it against Thorsness, as was the Air Force Cross awarded to Capt. Johnson for the same mission.[1] Capt. Abbott was released from captivity on February 18, 1973, while Thorsness, Johnson, and 1LT Abbott were released on March 4, 1973. Injuries incurred during the ejection and aggravated by the torture Thorsness was subjected to disqualified him medically from further flying and he retired October 25, 1973.
[edit] Post-military life
Thorsness served as Director of Civic Affairs for
Litton Industries from 1979 to 1985.
[15] He then served as a State Senator in
Washington. He is currently retired and serves on the Board of Directors as Society President for the
Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. He moved from Catalina, Arizona to Huntsville (Madison), Alabama with his wife in early 2008 to be close to family.
He is married to the former Gaylee Anderson. They are the parents of a daughter, Dawn.
In 2004, the
University of Richmond announced the establishment of an endowed chair in leadership and ethics named in honor of Thorsness. The
Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Endowed Chair in Ethical Leadership was funded by a $1,000,000 gift organized by W. Thomas Matthews, President and CEO of the Global Private Client Group at
Smith Barney.
[16] Thorsness is currently serving as Distinguished Leader in Residence at the Jepson School. The Thorsness chair is held by John Donelson Forsyth, a social psychologist with expertise in
group dynamics.
[17]
Thorsness'
autobiography,
Surviving Hell: A POW's Journey, was published in December 2008.
[18]
