War Vets’ Lawsuit Against Sen. Kerry Heats Up

“Vietnam veterans will not be intimidated by John Kerry,” retired Air Force Colonel George “Bud” Day said in response to the Massachusetts Senator’s newly created legal expense trust fund to finance his court battles against a group of highly-decorated Vietnam War veterans.

Col. Day added, “Why one of the wealthiest men in the Senate would expect others to pay his lawyers and use questionable Senate privileges against veterans is shameful.”

Col. Day is chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Foundation (VVLF), a group of Vietnam combat veterans who sued Sen. Kerry for “conspiracy and defamation.” Day is the most decorated Air Force veteran alive, a Medal of Honor recipient, a veteran of three wars and a former Vietnam POW held captive for over five years.

Sen. Kerry recently filed papers with the US Senate creating a “legal expense trust fund” to handle costs associated with his defense in the VVLF lawsuit. This action appears to be questionable since he’s defending actions he undertook before he became a member of the US Senate and while he was running a presidential campaign which has nothing whatsoever to due with Senate business. Ironically, the account is named “Fund for Truth and Honor.”

“That’s his way of mocking us and all Vietnam veterans,” Col. Day remarked. “The concepts of truth and honor are utterly foreign to him. He’s forced to plagiarize our words.”

The veterans’ lawsuit stems from Kerry’s failed 2004 presidential bid when his campaign tried to prevent a documentary about Kerry’s 1971 anti-war activities from being broadcast on television and cable stations, or shown in theaters.

That film, “Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal,” included interviews with Col. Day and several other Vietnam POWs. The film documented Naval Reserve Lt. Kerry’s portrayal of Vietnam veterans as “war criminals” before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Those accusations, the POWs said, were false, threatened their survival, and lengthened their captivity.

They also resented his use of the name “Genghis Khan” to describe the actions of the military. Senator Kerry is no different today. Recently, he said on national television that US soldiers “broke into Iraqi homes and terrorized women and children.”

Shortly after the documentary’s release in September 2004, Kerry campaign aides sued “Stolen Honor” producer Carlton Sherwood, a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award-winning journalist and decorated Marine Vietnam veteran. The lawsuits were followed by an assault on Sinclair Broadcast Group, which had announced plans to air the documentary. Kerry campaign-inspired ad boycotts, stockholders’ rebellions, and calls for FCC and FEC investigations eventually forced Sinclair to drop its planned airing of “Stolen Honor.”

In August 2005 Kerry supporters filed two additional lawsuits against Sherwood and VVLF POWs, claiming they “libeled” Kerry and other Vietnam veterans by questioning whether they witnessed or participated in “war crimes and atrocities” in Vietnam. However, Sen. Kerry admitted to committing “atrocities” during the Vietnam War, but was never prosecuted by the military for his admissions.

In response to Kerry’s attacks on these honorable men, the VVLF POWs and Sherwood filed a “conspiracy defamation” lawsuit against Sen. Kerry and one of his top campaign aides, Anthony Podesta. That suit charges Kerry and his campaign with scheming to censor “Stolen Honor,” attempting to prevent the American public from hearing Kerry’s true anti-war history and the consequences his actions had on the POWs languishing in prisoner camps, as well as other Vietnam veterans.

“We could not stand by while John Kerry used his underlings to sue us into silence,” Col. Day explained. “We could not allow this man to keep his hands clean while his surrogates did the dirty work, suing me and my fellow POWs because we spoke the truth about him.

What truly irks Col. Day and his fellow vets is the fact that Kerry is having US taxpayers foot his legal bills stemming from his anti-war comments and actions.

“It’s time he is held accountable. He must face those whom he falsely accused. It’s time America sees this man for [what] he really is, and the great harm he has done to many brave soldiers.”

COLONEL GEORGE E. "BUD" DAY (RETIRED)

Colonel George E. Day is a veteran of more than 30 years service in the Armed Forces of the United States.

Colonel Day was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on February 24, 1925. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree and Doctor of Humane Letters from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. He has also been awarded a Master of Arts degree from St. Louis University, a Juris Doctor from the University of South Dakota and a Doctor of Laws from Troy State University. Col. Day was admitted to the South Dakota Bar in 1949 and in Florida Bar in 1977.

Col. Day joined the Marine Corps in 1942 and served 30 months in the South Pacific as a noncommissioned officer. He received an appointment as a Second Lieutenant in the National Guard in 1950.

Col. Day was called to active duty in the Air Force in 1951 and entered jet pilot training. He served two tours in the Far East as a fighter-bomber pilot during the Korean War.

In April 1967, Colonel Day was assigned to the 31st Tac Fighter Wing at Tuy Hoa Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. He later moved to Phu Cat Air Base where he organized and became the first commander of the "Misty Super FAC's," an F-100 Squadron.

Shot down over North Vietnam on August 26, 1967, he spent 67 months as a Prisoner of War. Colonel Day was the only POW to escape from prison in the South. He is also credited with living through the first "no chute" bailout from a burning jet fighter in England in 1955.

At the time of his shoot-down, Colonel Day was one of the nation's most experienced jet fighter pilots, with 4,500 hours of single engine jet time, and more than 5,000 hours of flying time. He has flown all of the modern Air Force jet fighters including the F-80, F-84, F-100, F-101, F-104, F-105, F-4E, A-4J Mongoose, A-7, F-106, FB-111, F-15, F-16, CF-5, CT-33, and CF-18.

Col. Day holds every significant combat award and is the nation's most highly decorated officer, as well as the most decorated since General Douglass MacArthur. He holds nearly seventy military decorations and awards, of which more than fifty are for combat. Most notable are: the Medal of Honor, the Air Force Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters, the Bronze Star for Valor with two Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart with three Clusters. Col. Day was presented Vietnam's highest medal by President Thieu, two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses, and Vietnamese Wings, and wears twelve Campaign Battle Stars.

He is a member of the Medal of Honor Society, Legion of Valor, was the first President of NAM-POW's (the Vietnam POW organization), President of the MISTY SUPER-FAC Association, and a member of numerous military and fraternal organizations. Colonel Day was a member of the Code of Conduct Review Board, established by the Department of Defense in 1976 to review POW conduct.

Col. Day has taught World Politics, International Law and Political Geography at St. Louis University and Parks College of Aeronautical Technology. He taught Constitutional Law, Politics of the Middle East, and Communism in Eastern Europe at Troy State University.

Col. Day is a member of the Okaloosa/Walton Bar Association, Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, American Bar Association, and American Trial Lawyers. He is a visiting lecturer at the Freedom's Foundation program at Valley Forge for both St. Francis College and the University of Scranton, and lectures young officers at the Air University at Maxwell AFB, AL several times each year.

Bud is married to his childhood sweetheart Doris Merlene Sorensen of Sioux City, Iowa, and has four children. Steven Michael of Shalimar, Florida, Capt. George Everette, Jr. (Class of '85 Air Force Academy) F-16 pilot, twin daughters Sonja Smith of Fort Walton Beach, Florida and Sandra Mathers of San Diego, California (whose husband is Navy helicopter pilot). George Day has two grandsons Jacob and Joshua, three granddaughters Noel Elizabeth, Victoria Leigh, and Audrey Marie. He resides in Shalimar, Florida and has a law firm in Fort Walton Beach, Florida where he is a trial Lawyer.

Col. Day is a past Florida State Republican Committeeman, and a past member of the Board of Directors of the Medal of Honor Society. He is a past National Commander of the Legion of Valor and was a delegate to Republican Conventions, Chairman of the Reagan Committee in Okaloosa Count, Florida. In 1984, he was National Chairman of Veteran's for Reagan and campaigned extensively for and with the President. He campaigned nationally for President Bush in 1992.

Col. Day received the BUSINESS ASSOCIATE OF THE YEAR 1988 from the American Business Women's Association.

Col. Day has published numerous articles on fighter performance, an article in the Saturday Evening Post, Air Force Magazine, and is the author or "RETURN WITH HONOR" his POW autobiography.

Governor Martinez appointed Col. Day a Commissioner of Veterans Affairs. He is a past Secretary of Florida Veterans Affairs Commission.

Senator Connie Mack placed Col. Day on the Defense Advisory Committee and he serves as a director of the Air Force Armament Museum.

He is a past advisor to the Air Force Association, Washington, D.C.

http://mrgrg-ms.org/col-day.html

Day, George E.
CITATION:

Rank and organization: Colonel (then Major), U.S. Air Force, Forward Air Controller Pilot of an F-100 aircraft. Place and date: North Vietnam, 26 August 1967. Entered service at: Sioux City, Iowa. Born: 24 February 1925, Sioux City, Iowa. Citation: On 26 August 1967, Col. Day was forced to eject from his aircraft over North Vietnam when it was hit by ground fire. His right arm was broken in 3 places, and his left knee was badly sprained. He was immediately captured by hostile forces and taken to a prison camp where he was interrogated and severely tortured. After causing the guards to relax their vigilance, Col. Day escaped into the jungle and began the trek toward South Vietnam. Despite injuries inflicted by fragments of a bomb or rocket, he continued southward surviving only on a few berries and uncooked frogs. He successfully evaded enemy patrols and reached the Ben Hai River, where he encountered U.S. artillery barrages. With the aid of a bamboo log float, Col. Day swam across the river and entered the demilitarized zone. Due to delirium, he lost his sense of direction and wandered aimlessly for several days. After several unsuccessful attempts to signal U.S. aircraft, he was ambushed and recaptured by the Viet Cong, sustaining gunshot wounds to his left hand and thigh. He was returned to the prison from which he had escaped and later was moved to Hanoi after giving his captors false information to questions put before him. Physically, Col. Day was totally debilitated and unable to perform even the simplest task for himself. Despite his many injuries, he continued to offer maximum resistance. His personal bravery in the face of deadly enemy pressure was significant in saving the lives of fellow aviators who were still flying against the enemy. Col. Day's conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Armed Forces.

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