Harry Day

Wg Cdr Harry Melville Arbuthnot Day GC, DSO, OBE (1898-2 December 1977) was a Royal Marine and later an RAF pilot during WWII. As a prisoner of war he was Senior British Officer in a number of different camps and a noted escapee.

Born in Borneo and grew up there before being sent to Haileybury College in England. He joined the Royal Marines in 1916 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. Two days before the armistice, Day was awarded the Albert Medal for his bravery aboard the battleship HMS "Britannia" after the ship was torpedoed. He carried wounded and dying men from below decks despite great danger to himself. In 1971 all Albert Medal holders became eligible to exchange their award for a George Cross, which Day did.

He stayed with the Marines until 1924 when he moved to the Fleet Air Arm as a Flying Officer and he joined the Royal Air Force in 1930. He was a noted stunt flyer and led the RAF aerobatic flight before being posted to the Middle East. He remained there for five years. He was over 40 when World War II began but was put in command of 57 Squadron in August 1939 only to be shot down a few weeks later while flying a Bristol Blenheim on a daylight reconnaissance mission over southern-west Germany.

In May 1941, while at Stalag Luft I, he and 17 others tunneled out of the camp, but was recaptured 5 days later. In March 1942 he moved to Stalag Luft III at Sagan where he made a second escape attempt using a forged interpreter's pass. While in solitary confinement after that escape he tried a third escape but was again recaptured. In October 1942 he was sent to Oflag XXIB at Schubin but returned later to Sagan where in March 1943 he and 35 others tunneled out. This time Day headed east to Poland, hoping to get on a ship to Sweden. He was recaptured and sent back to Sagan.

In March 1944 Day and 75 others took part in The Great Escape and he once again made his way to Stettin and once again was arrested. After interrogation by the Gestapo he was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, from where he managed another escape. After another visit to Gestapo headquarters he was sent to the concentration camp at Flossenburg, where he remained until April 1945. He made one final escape attempt in the final weeks of the war and this time made it to the Allied lines. For his services while a prisoner he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Harry Day died in Malta on 2nd Dec 1977, aged 79.

Reference

'Wings' Day, by Sydney Smith, story of Wing Commander Harry "Wings" Day, Pan Books, 1968, ISBN 0330024949