Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
Group Captain Harry DAY DSO, OBE, AM (1898-1977)
THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Group Captain Harry Melville Arbuthnot Day DSO, OBE, AM, Royal Marine and Royal Air Force pilot, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in London’s Kensington Square.
Following his education at Haileybury College, Harry joined the Royal Marines in 1916 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. He served on board the battleship HMS Britannia during the First World War and through an act of bravery when the ship was torpedoed and sunk, he was awarded the Albert Medal.
He stayed with the Royal Marines until 1924, when he moved to the Fleet Air arm as a flying officer serving with the Royal Air Force. As a wing commander with 57 Squadron he volunteered to carry out the squadron’s first operational mission at the outbreak of the Second World War. He was shot down and captured by the Germans.
As a prisoner of war he was interned in a number of different camps, including Stalag Luft III where he planned and organised the ‘Great Escape’. Harry later acted as technical advisor for the Hollywood film The Great Escape.
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Max Bygraves | Mario Borrelli | Alastair Pearson | Brian Rix | Derek Dooley | Elizabeth Twistington Higgins | Sandy MacPherson