On Thursday, Col. Bud Day will be dressed in his Air Force uniform for the last time and laid to rest in what could be the largest funeral Northwest Florida has ever seen.
The services for the distinguished veteran of three wars will be open to the public at the request of Day’s wife, Doris.
“She decided she wanted this to be open to the public in order to accommodate everyone,” said Ray Angerman, pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Shalimar where Day and his family have attended for about 35 years.
Angerman will officiate the funeral, which will be held at the Emerald Coast Convention Center on Thursday at 11 a.m. Visitation will start at 9 a.m.
Sen. John McCain, who shared a cell with Day in Vietnam when they were prisoners of war, is expected to speak at the service, Angerman said.
See a gallery of photos from Col. Day's life. >>
See a video of McCain's remarks on Day's passing >>
Angerman and a crew will be packing up and moving the church’s altar and its eternal flame to the convention center for the funeral.
“(Doris) wanted it in a church, but we said we’ll bring the church to the convention center,” he said.
Last Sunday, the front-row seat that Day occupied every week he was able sat empty — a void in the congregation. The 88-year-old had died at home on Saturday after a battle with cancer.
“It was very difficult to get through the service without him,” said Angerman, who has known Day and his family since they first started attending the church in 1978. “I feel like there is a piece of our church missing right now; there’s a big hole.”
Day continued coming even up to the last Sunday before he died.
“He had to sit in the back row because he couldn’t walk to the front, but he wanted to be here,” Angerman said. “He could only walk from the car so far, but he wasn’t about to be pushed in a wheelchair; he’s too strong a man.”
At the church, Day was nicknamed the National Treasure, but he wanted to be treated just like everyone else, Angerman said.
“There were no autograph signings on Sunday mornings,” he said. “Although I always wondered why there weren’t.”
Preparations are also being made for Day’s burial in Pensacola. After Thursday’s funeral, a procession will travel down U.S. Highway 98 to Barrancas National Cemetery at Pensacola Naval Air Station, where Day will be buried with military honors at 3 p.m.
A number of dignitaries, including U.S. congressmen and high-ranking military officials, are expected to attend the services.
Day has been hailed as a hero for his service in Vietnam, as well as World War II and Korea. He has received about 70 decorations, including the Medal of Honor and the Air Force Cross, which made him the most-decorated airman still living, according to his family.
He spent five years and seven months as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, where he was tortured, nearly starved and kept in squalid conditions but refused to reveal sensitive information.
Day’s last assignment was as vice commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, and he and his family settled in Northwest Florida. Here, he worked as an attorney and as a veterans advocate.
In the early 2000s, he helped pressure Congress to make it easier for veterans to receive promised medical benefits.
Day will be the fourth Medal of Honor recipient to be buried at Barrancas.
He was eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia but opted to stay closer to home so it would be easier for Doris to visit his gravesite, Angerman said.
Barrancas, where more than 44,000 veterans and their spouses are buried, is planning for the largest service it has ever hosted, said cemetery director Angela Nash.
The largest service Barrancas has had involved up to about 500 attendees, Nash, the cemetery director said.
Thursday’s service is expected to be much larger, she said.
She said everyone wanting to attend will be allowed on base and into the cemetery, but that does not guarantee they will be able to see the service.
“We won’t turn anyone away,” Nash said. “We’ll handle what comes.”
People wanting to attend should bring photo identification to get on base.
Day’s will be the first funeral service held at the Emerald Coast Convention Center. It will be in two adjoining ballrooms with seating capacity for about 1,500 people.
The center’s doors will open at 8 a.m. and the ballroom will open at 8:45 a.m.
A flyover is scheduled during the service.
Following that, a procession led by the Patriot Riders and the Rolling Thunder motorcycle brigades will travel to Pensacola for the burial.
On Monday, McCain spoke about Day on the U.S. Senate floor.
“Those who knew Bud after the war could see how tough he was,” McCain said. “But, my God, to have known him in prison — confronting our enemies day-in and day-out; never, ever yielding — defying men who had the power of life and death over us; to witness him sing the national anthem in response to having a rifle pointed at his face — well that is something to behold. Unforgettable.
“No one had more guts than Bud or greater determination to do his duty and then some — to keep faith with his country and his comrades whatever the cost.”
He said that despite knowing Day had grown older, he wasn’t prepared for his death.
“For some reason, I could never imagine Bud yielding to anything — even, I thought, to the laws of nature. Tough old bird that he was, I always thought he would outlive us all.”
Day often reflected that it would have been impossible to make it through his years in prison if he did not have his faith in God, Angerman said.
In an interview last year with Lutheran Witness, he talked about how his faith carried him through.
“I have been frightened many times. I don’t make any excuses or apologies for that,” he said. “However, I experienced that there was physically a calm that God gave me in the midst of trouble.”
Day said his faith in God did not falter.
“No matter what our enemies tried to tell me or what I heard on the radio, God never allowed me to believe them or to question my faith,” he said.
Day is survived by his wife of 64 years; his children, retired Air Force Capt. Steve Day, retired Air Force Lt. Col. George Day, Sandra Hearn and Sonja LaJeunesse; and his 14 grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, Day's family has suggested donations be made to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, the Wounded Warrior Project or the Gary Sinise Foundation.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Sage Reinlie at 850-315-4443 or lreinlie@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenRnwfdn.
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