American Patriot: The Life and Wars of Colonel Bud Day

Coram writes in his introduction that he has unapologetically "gone native," and makes no effort to deny his admiration for Bud Day. "Readers don't care," he writes, "if a writer admires the person he writes about."

Indeed, they do not. They care, rather, that a writer's objectivity may have been colored by that admiration, and that he or she may have been led by it, however inadvertently, to distort the truth. I make no claims about whether this has actually happened in Coram's book, or not, because I don't know the truth. What I do know is that Coram, who openly luxuriates in misty-eyed sentimentality about the high honors of military service, cannot be relied upon to report it.

"Military men," he says, "are better than most of us."

No doubt some of them are. But what a statement! All military men? Of all armies? Of all nations? Of all time? Of course this isn't - this can't be - what Coram intends. But it's what he says, quite literally, and even if great allowances are made for context his meaning, at best, is that *American* military men "are better than most of us," which is only slightly less absurd. It's a claim that no person wishing to be taken seriously as an historian - as an accurate reporter of facts - would ever make, simply because it's too easy to point to the predictable egregious exceptions, and thereby undermine the credibility of him who made the claim to begin with.

The only reader who can accept such a claim, going into a book, is one who's not looking for history but for fable, or parable, or bedtime story; something to reaffirm what he or she already believes - already knows in his or her heart - on opening the cover. I sometimes have use for such books, myself, but I prefer they be presented as pure fiction, rather than an uncertain admixture, thereof, with fact. The tragedy is when truly heroic facts, as I suspect those of Bud Day's remarkable life actually were, are obscured by reporting that gives up even the pretense of objectivity.

Well written story of a true American hero. Thank you Colonel Day and Rest In Peace. This book should be read by anyone that likes military lore or historical novels or non-fiction. It reminded me of "Sledge' (E B Sledge) Another great American. You might also enjoy , Flags of Our Fathers.

I am a USAF Brat....and I rememeber pulling up stakes and starting over about every 2 years...dealing with pilot's death not routinely; but often enough; that we knew when we saw the Chaplain in the USAF Housing developement...someone would be leaving our Housing project soon....

The book is detailed history of Bud Day. It is a compelling story about the life of Bud Day, who is really an American hero.

What I don't like is when the co-author goes out of his way to tell stories that do nothing but take up space. Also, the co-author says some things that just aren't true. One example is when he states the Air Force only has 2,000 true combat pilots. That is so wrong and it is insulting that the thousands of combat pilots and aircrew members that don't fly fighters.

Overall it is a good book and is worth your time reading.

This is an excellent book about a man who lives what he believes. He's the type of person we should all strive to be and the type of person who is the hope of our country.

I was truly amazed at the outstanding story of Col Bud Day! I have read several books on POW's from Nam and they always mentioned the heroics of Bud Day, but I never had any idea to what extent of honor and sacrifice that Bud Day had displayed during his captivity. I also wasn't aware that he started out his military career as a Marine and had served in WWII and Korea before becoming a top notch fighter pilot in Nam.
His childhood , which the book mentions, was also intriguing. It played an important role in the type of man Bud turned out to be.

I was equally impressed with the commitment and loyality along with love and devotion, that bud had for his wife, who proved herself throughout his career. In fact, she played as big a role as anyone in helping get Bud and his fellow prisoners released in 1973.

Bud Day is the most highly decorated living serviceman today. After reading this book, I can see why. You won't be able to put it down and will be sad to see it end. Thank you, Bud Day for what you did, and still do, for our men and women of the armed forces. We need a man like you in charge of our country!

Oh, and by the way, John Kerry and Jane Fonda, if you happen to be reading this review, you are both in the FUBAR category! John McCain , I discovered in this book, isn't all the man (on behalf of the NAM POW's) that I thought he was, either. Politics will do that to some men, I guess.........

Robert Coram's Preface to AMERICAN PATRIOT is by itself worth twice the price of the book. I was astonished by his revelations in the preface about military men, military values and military life. So, of course, even if I had not wanted to read about Bud Day, I would have been forced to read the book.

Bud Day is as great as Americans ever get to be. Though he is Homeric and gargantuan, he is as real as the first breath ever left on a window pane. If I were still teaching or running schools, this book would be the book of the year selection every year. If we want young men to reach for the stars, they need to know Bud Day and his unbreakable human spirit, and they need to know that if America is to survive this cauldron of fire then our military is going to need thousands more like him---IF there are any more like him. And I believe they are out there right now...men and women like Bud Day.

Calvin Atwood
Amelia island, Florida

This account of Colonel Bud Day is hard to put down. American Patriot is just the beginning. How far he was willing to go to fight for this country at all levels is bordering compulsion. We desperately need Bud Day and more like him today if we are to survive as a country. Great read and even greater reward getting to know him.

A co-worker recommended this to me as an amazing story about an American hero. It sounded like a great story so I thought I would give it a shot. Boy did he undersell the book! It is written as such a page turner - I cannot put it down. The life this guy led is so impressive; and to go through what he did at Hoa Lo and remain so strong is incredible.

If you like war novels/biographies, this is for you.

Wonderful and terrible true story of an American warrior. I bought one for me. After reading it, I bought 4 more to give to others.

All Americans should read this book.