The Warrior and the Prayer Warrior

My wife, Diana, had prayed for him for years. He was just a name on a bracelet-

COL. GEORGE DAY, 8-26-67

She was given the POW bracelet in junior-high school in the early 70’s. She wore the bracelet and prayed faithfully for his safety, health, and safe return for years. In college, she lost the bracelet during a dorm move but she still continued to pray for Colonel Day.

Years later, in 1996,  Diana and I were married and I was a third-year family medicine resident at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. One weekend, we were at the Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin Air Force Base. I was checking out a static aircraft display and Diana tearfully called out to me.

“He’s alive! My guy made it! He actually made it! Thank you, God!”

Diana was standing beneath a plaque on the museum’s Wall of Honor. There was a huge grin on her face and tears in her eyes. The plaque above her detailed Colonel George “Bud” Day’s capture on 26 August 1967, his imprisonment in the Hanoi Hilton, his eventual release in March 1973, and his Medal of Honor and Air Force Cross citations. As we later learned, he not only “made it” but he was also a semi-retired attorney and lived near Eglin Air Force Base.

Some months later, we were dining at a restaurant just outside the base. Colonel Day walked in and took a seat at a table across the room. Diana stepped over to his table and tearfully shook the hand of the man on the bracelet, thanking him for his service and sacrifice and thanking God for his safe return.

The warrior and the prayer warrior—it was an awesome sight.