UNALLOYED HEROISM: The Medals of George ‘Bud’ Day (1925-2013). At the top is the Command Pilot Badge of the Air Force. The ribbon at the top left is the Medal of Honor, next to the Air Force Cross. The second row contains, from the left, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. The third row starts with the Bronze Star with a V device for Valor, then the Purple Hearts, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Medal with silver and bronze oak leaf clusters. Below that row are the Presidential Unit Citation, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with V for Valor, then the ribbon with the red-white-and-blue on either end and the black in the middle that is the Prisoner of War Medal, followed by the Combat Readiness Medal. The fifth row contains the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal. The sixth row contains the Victory Medal of World War II, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, and the Vietnam Service Medal. The seventh row contains the Air Force Longevity Service Award, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, the Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, and the Commander Badge of the National Order of Vietnam. The last row contains the Vietnam Gallantry Cross, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Award, the United Nations Service Medal for Korea, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.
By XICO GREENWALD, Special to the Sun
June 24, 2017
Abstract Expressionists Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline urged a pair of friends to start an art gallery. Tibor de Nagy and John Bernard Myers followed their advice and, in 1950, on East 53rd Street, they opened the Tibor de Nagy…
The following is adapted from the prepared text of remarks delivered April 22 at the annual dinner of the Signet Society at Harvard University by Seth Lipsky, editor of The New York Sun and founding editor of the Forward.
* * *
At the Signet’s musical reception, I enjoyed Julia Beidry’s fabulous rendition of “Misty.” I kept thinking of Colonel Bud Day. He was a U.S. Air Force officer who was shot down over North Vietnam and became the only prisoner ever to escape. Though Day had a broken arm and was barefoot and had been tortured, he made it across the Demilitarized Zone back to Free Vietnam — only to be recaptured and dragged back to the communist North.
One day he was leading a group of fellow POW’s in forbidden prayer, when guards burst in. One of them jammed the barrel of his rifle against Day’s forehead. There was a horrifying moment as everyone waited for the guard to pull the trigger. What did Day do? He started singing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Suddenly, all of the prisoners started singing our anthem. The guards backed down. America would eventually give Day the Medal of Honor. The reason I kept thinking of Colonel Day is that his trademark...
By CAROL DIAMOND, Special to the Sun
April 28, 2017
Two gallery shows of contemporary art in Manhattan bring geometry and tactility together with vibrant results. New York–based artist Celia Gerard is exhibiting her signature large-scale mixed media drawings alongside relief sculptures in ceramic and…
By SETH LIPSKY, From the New York Post
January 17, 2018
Could the fight over the Dreamers finally get the Supreme Court to put its foot down on the campaign by liberal district judges to foil Donald Trump’s presidency? It looks like we could find out. That’s because of the announcement this week that the…
By CONRAD BLACK, Special to the Sun
January 17, 2018
The first opportunity for a successful end of the Second Civil War, between President Trump and the incumbent political class, has been squandered by the Democrats. Nothing could be done until Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul…
By CONRAD BLACK, Special to the Sun
January 10, 2018
Having encountered Michael Wolff and having had an acidulous public exchange with him, I attest that he is an utterly odious man. He can’t write properly, has no professional integrity, and is a sociophobic mud-slinger and myth-maker. His entry into…
BOSTON — Harvard University will choose its next president in the coming weeks. Surprises are always possible, but the search looks like it’s headed in a direction that tells a story of national, even international significance. Among the leading…
So what was the question that Joe Kernen of CNBC put to Donald Trump that the president didn’t want to talk about? Not that it wasn’t a fabulous interview. Buoyed by the economy and the success of his first year, Mr. Trump was relaxed and on his game. There was one question, though, to which the president was loath to respond: “I don’t like talking about it.” He was referring to Mr. Kernen’s question about the weak dollar. And why doesn’t Mr. Trump want to talk about it? “Because, frankly, nobody should be talking about it.”
By LAWRENCE KUDLOW, Special to the Sun
January 27, 2018
“America is open for business, and we are competitive once again.” That was just one of the key lines in President Trump’s highly successful Davos speech this week. Of course, in going to Davos, Mr. Trump entered the lion’s den. A year ago such a…
Deafening is the word for the silence that has greeted the report that Secretary of State Kerry has sent a message urging the Palestinian Arab leader Mahmoud Abbas to stay strong and resist American policy in the Middle East. This supposedly took…
By SETH LIPSKY, From the New York Post
January 24, 2018
Does news that Joe Manchin of West Virginia is going to run for re-election mean there’s hope yet for the Senate? I, for one, would certainly like to think so. Mr. Manchin is a member of my favorite endangered species — conservative Democrats. Given…
No sooner had Hawaii sent out its false alert of a ballistic missile threat inbound for the 50th state than a special unit at the New York Times sprang into action. It’s unclear whether that scramble began before or after Hawaii sent out word that the…
Well that didn’t take long. It was fewer than nine months ago that we warned of the danger of South Korea capitulating to the North. “Everyone has been worrying about the ability of a nuclear-armed Iran to cow its neighbors in the Middle East,” the editor of the Sun noted in a column in the New York Post. “What about the effect of a nuclear North Korea on the south?”
The refusal of history to disclose her alternatives means we will never know what might have happened had President Obama stood up to the Iranian ayatollahs in 2009. As the Persian people take to the streets in latest protests against Islamist rule, though, we can go back and read the transcript of Mr. Obama’s press conference of June 23, 2009, and we can focus on the price of appeasement. History has offered a second chance.
Vice President Pence will visit Israel next week. The White House says he will visit the Western Wall, the Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem, and the Knesset. I’ve got another suggestion: Let Mr. Pence add to his itinerary a stop at one of Israel’s…
By RAYMOND JOSEPH, Special to the Sun
January 11, 2018
Flabbergasted was my reaction when I read about Haiti, El Salvador, and African lands being described with crude language by the President of the United States. Could that be true? The story that I first read in the Washington Post was also carried by…
By SETH LIPSKY, From the New York Post
December 20, 2017
Could Ambassador Nikki Haley emerge as our Joan of Arc in the struggle against the folly of world government? It’s starting to look that way as America gets set to mark the centenary of the League of Nations.
Would You Like to Become a Sustaining Subscriber of the Sun? Sign up now