George E. “Bud” Day and Doris “Dorie” Sorenson Day were natives of Sioux City, Iowa, who later adopted the Fort Walton Beach area as their hometown. After service in World War II and Korea, Bud Day was shot down over North Vietnam on August 26, 1967, and spent the next five years, seven months enduring torture and solitary confinement as a prisoner of war. While he was imprisoned, Dorie Day campaigned tirelessly for humane treatment and release of all prisoners of war. After Bud Day’s return, the couple moved to Fort Walton Beach, where he was assigned as Vice Wing Commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin AFB. On March 6, 1976, President Gerald Ford presented him with the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, and with his other honors he became the most decorated airman in U.S. history. After retiring from the Air Force, he practiced law while he and Dorie raised their four children in nearby Shalimar. His efforts before the Supreme Court of the United States were a major factor in securing medical care for all qualified veterans. After his death on July 27, 2013, Dorie proposed that he be remembered by a park in his adopted hometown, and with support from friends in the Fort Walton Beach Woman’s Club, fundraising by the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, and the generosity of many organizations and individuals, the Bud and Dorie Day Patriots’ Trail was created along the California Ditch.