Bud Day, War Hero and Garry Davis, World Hero

Dear Mr. President,

Two obits in today’s NYT—“Col. Bud Day, Heroic Pilot in Vietnam War, Dies at 88” and “Garry Davis, ‘World Citizen’ and Peace Advocate, Is Dead at 91”—are a contrast in world view. Bud Day was a Marine in WW II, Garry Davis a bomber pilot. After the war, Day went to college, got a law degree and an officer’s commission in the Air Force Reserve. Davis, on the other hand, had an epiphany about war while on a bombing mission over Germany: “How many bombs had I dropped? How many men, women and children had I murdered? Wasn’t there another way?” In 1948, Davis walked into the American Embassy in Paris, renounced his citizenship and declared himself a citizen of the world. He believed that if there were no nation-states, there would be no wars. “The nation-state is a political fiction which perpetuates anarchy and is the breeding ground of war, Allegiance to a nation is a collective suicide pact.” In November 1948, he stormed into the UN General Assembly and proclaimed, “We, the people, want the peace which only a world government can give. The sovereign states you represent divide us and lead us to the abyss of total war.” For the rest of his life Davis remained stateless, advocated one world government and peace, and was arrested numerous times crossing borders with only a World Citizen passport. Bud Day, on the other hand, became a war hero. In 1951 he was recalled to active duty and flew a fighter-bomber, tracking Soviet planes off the coast of Japan. He volunteered for Vietnam and on August 26, 1967, Day’s F-100 was shot down over North Vietnam and he was captured. He spent 5 years in North Vietnamese prisons including the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ with John McCain and James Stockdale (Ross Perot’s running mate). He was tortured, beaten and starved but divulged only false information. He is among the most decorated American servicemen in history but was never promoted to general. After retirement he practiced law, campaigned for McCain (twice) and was active in the Swift Boat smear of John Kerry. Garry Davis’ movement has a million world citizens—Camus, Sartre, Schweitzer and Einstein among them—and has issued 2.5 million passports, birth and marriage certificates and ID cards. Last year Davis sent Julian Assange a world passport; a few weeks ago he sent one to Edward Snowden. But life is unfair: Garry Davis who worked all his life for peace never got a Nobel Peace Prize while a promoter of war, Kill Lists, drone strikes and indefinite detention did.