Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) delivered an emotional tribute to his long-time friend and fellow Vietnam War prisoner of war, retired Col. Bud Day who died on July 27 in Florida at age 88. “We met in 1967, when the Vietnamese left me to die in the prison cell Bud shared with Maj. Norris Overly. But, Bud and Norris wouldn’t let me die. They bathed me, fed me, nursed me, encouraged me, and ordered me back to life,” said McCain in his July 29 speech on the Senate floor. McCain said Day did this despite the fact that he, too, “had recently been near death” after his shootdown and subsequent injuries, capture, and torture. McCain said Day was not only his commanding officer, but also his inspiration during those difficult years in captivity. Witnessing Day sing the US national anthem as a North Vietnamese guard pointed a rifle at Day’s face was “something to behold,” said McCain. Day’s contribution to the US military and to his fellow POWs is something McCain said he would never forget. “Bud was the bravest man I ever knew,” he said. “I will miss Bud every day for the rest of my life.”
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.