# Jeffery Day > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jeffery_Day > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jeffery_Day.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Day > Source revision: 1353088870 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American World War I flying ace}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox military person | name = Miles Jeffery Game Day | image = Jeffery Day frontispiece from Poems and Rhymes.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|12|1|df=y}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1918|02|27|1896|12|01|df=y}} | birth_place = [St. Ives](/source/St_Ives%2C_Cambridgeshire), [Huntingdonshire](/source/Huntingdonshire), England | death_place = West of [Dunkirk](/source/Dunkirk), [France](/source/France) | burial_label = Commemorated at | burial_place = [Chatham Naval Memorial](/source/Chatham_Naval_Memorial), [Kent](/source/Kent), [England](/source/England) | burial_coordinates = | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = Royal Navy | service_years = 1915–1918 | rank = [Flight Commander](/source/Flight_commander) | unit = {{HMS|Vindex|1915|6}}
{{HMS|Cassandra|1916|6}}
[No. 13 Squadron RNAS](/source/No._213_Squadron_RAF) | commands = | battles = | awards = [Distinguished Service Cross](/source/Distinguished_Service_Cross_(United_Kingdom)) | relations = | other_work = }} Flight Commander '''Miles Jeffery Game Day''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DSC}}, (1 December 1896 – 27 February 1918) was a [World War I](/source/World_War_I) [flying ace](/source/flying_ace) credited with five aerial victories,{{cite web |url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/day2.php |title=Miles Jeffrey Game Day |work=The Aerodrome |year=2014 |accessdate=17 November 2014 }} and also a [war poet](/source/war_poet). ==Background and education== Jeffery Day, as he was commonly known, was born in [St. Ives](/source/St_Ives%2C_Cambridgeshire), [Huntingdonshire](/source/Huntingdonshire), one of four children born to George Dennis Day (1860–1945), a solicitor, and his wife Margaret Jane (née Davis) (1862–1945).{{cite web |url=http://www.stivesrowingclub.com/dennisivorday.php |title=Dennis Ivor Day, oarsman, of St Ives & Cambridge |first=M. |last=Stephenson |work=St Ives Rowing Club |year=2014 |accessdate=18 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129070825/http://www.stivesrowingclub.com/dennisivorday.php |archivedate=29 November 2014 }} He was educated at [Sandroyd](/source/Sandroyd_School) and [Repton School](/source/Repton_School)s.Day (1919), p. 7. ==Military career== Day joined the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) as a probationary [flight sub-lieutenant](/source/flight_sub-lieutenant), and was confirmed in the rank of flight sub-lieutenant on 21 August 1915.{{London Gazette |date=9 November 1915 |issue=29360 |page=11044}} He received the Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 1949 after flying a [Caudron](/source/Caudron) biplane at the Royal Naval Flying School, [Eastchurch](/source/RNAS_Eastchurch), on 2 October 1915.{{cite journal |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1915/1915%20-%200850.html |title=Aviators' Certificates |issue=858 |volume=VII |page=850 |journal=[Flight](/source/Flight_International) |date=5 November 1915 |accessdate=17 November 2014 }} He was first stationed aboard the [seaplane carrier](/source/seaplane_carrier) {{HMS|Vindex|1915|2}}, part of the [Harwich Force](/source/Harwich_Force), where he gained a reputation as a skilled and daring flyer,Day (1919), p. 16. and was promoted to flight lieutenant on 31 December 1916.{{London Gazette |date=29 December 1916 |supp=y |issue=29886 |page=14 |nolink=yes}} Day chafed at the lack of activity at Harwich, and gained a transfer to the [light cruiser](/source/light_cruiser) {{HMS|Cassandra|1916|2}}.Day (1919), p. 18. Following her grounding in August 1917, he was posted to the experimental air station at [RNAS Kingsnorth](/source/RNAS_Kingsnorth) on the [Isle of Grain](/source/Isle_of_Grain).Day (1919), p. 19. Day was already an experienced pilot when he joined No. 13 Squadron RNAS, based at [Dunkirk](/source/Dunkirk), on 19 December 1917. Between 3 January and 19 February 1918 he scored five victories while flying a [Sopwith Camel](/source/Sopwith_Camel). On 27 February, he was shot down in flames into the sea about 25 miles west of Dunkirk by a German seaplane.{{cite book |first1=Christopher F. |last1=Shores |first2=Norman |last2=Franks |authorlink2=Norman Franks |first3=Russell |last3=Guest |title=Above the Trenches: A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920 |location=London, UK |publisher=Grub Street |year=1990 |isbn=0-948817-19-4 |name-list-style=amp }} According to his commanding officer's report: :"...He was shot down by six German aircraft which he attacked single-handed, out to sea. He had out-distanced his flight, I think because he wished to break the [enemy's] formation, in order to make it easier for the less experienced people behind him to attack. He hit the enemy and they hit his machine, which burst into flames; but, not a bit flurried, he nose-dived, flattened out, and landed perfectly on the water. He climbed out of his machine and waved his fellow-pilots back to their base; being in aeroplanes [not sea-planes] they could not assist him."Day (1919), p. 8. A search was immediately launched, but no trace of him was found. Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the [Chatham Naval Memorial](/source/Chatham_Naval_Memorial), Kent, England.{{cite web |url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3047280/DAY,%20MILES%20JEFFREY%20GAME |title=Day, Miles Jeffrey Game |work=[Commonwealth War Graves Commission](/source/Commonwealth_War_Graves_Commission) |year=2014 |accessdate=18 November 2014}} ==Honours and awards== ;Distinguished Service Cross :Flight Lieutenant (acting Flight Commander) Miles Jeffrey Game Day, RNAS (since killed). :For great skill and bravery as a fighting pilot. On 25 January he attacked, single-handed, six enemy triplanes, one of which he shot down. On 2 February 1918 he attacked and destroyed an enemy two-seater machine on reconnaissance at 18,000 feet. He destroyed several enemy machines in a short space of time, and, in addition, had numerous indecisive engagements.{{London Gazette |city=e |date=19 March 1918 |issue=13225 |page=1057}} ==Poetry== Day began writing poetry during his spare time, initially humorous verses for his fellow officers in the style of [W. S. Gilbert](/source/W._S._Gilbert),Day (1919), p. 14. but later, inspired by [Rupert Brooke](/source/Rupert_Brooke)'s ''[The Old Vicarage, Grantchester](/source/The_Old_Vicarage%2C_Grantchester)'', he began to compose longer serious poems. Only three of these; "On the Wings of the Morning", "An Airman's Dream" and part of "To My Brother", were published in his lifetime, the first in ''[Cornhill](/source/Cornhill_Magazine)'', and the other two in ''[The Spectator](/source/The_Spectator)''.Day (1919), p. 63. "To My Brother" was inspired by the death of his older brother Dennis Ivor Day, who was serving as a second lieutenant in the [Royal Field Artillery](/source/Royal_Field_Artillery) when he was shot by a sniper at [Vermelles](/source/Vermelles) on 25 September 1915, finally dying from the injury on 7 October. Day's collected poems were published post-war, and two of his poems were anthologized in ''A Treasury of War Poetry, British and American Poems of the World War, 1914-1919'', edited by George Herbert Clarke,{{cite wikisource |title=A Treasury of War Poetry, British and American Poems of the World War, 1914-1919 |wslink=A treasury of war poetry, British and American poems of the world war, 1914-1919 |editor1-first=George Herbert |editor1-last=Clarke |year=1917 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |location=London}} and also in ''Cambridge Poets 1914-1920: an Anthology'', compiled by [Edward Davison](/source/Edward_Davison_(poet)), published in 1920.{{cite web |url= http://exhibits.lib.byu.edu/wwi/anthologies/anthologies.html |title=Anthologies |work=[Harold B. Lee Library](/source/Harold_B._Lee_Library), [Brigham Young University](/source/Brigham_Young_University) |year=2013 |accessdate=18 November 2014}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==Bibliography== * {{cite book |first=Jeffery |last=Day |title=Poems and Rhymes |location=London |publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd |year=1919 |url=https://archive.org/details/poemsrhymes00dayj |accessdate=18 November 2014}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Jeffery}} Category:1896 births Category:1918 deaths Category:Military personnel from Cambridgeshire Category:People from St Ives, Cambridgeshire Category:People educated at Sandroyd School Category:People educated at Repton School Category:Royal Naval Air Service aviators Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I Category:British World War I flying aces Category:20th-century English poets Category:British World War I poets Category:20th-century English male writers Category:British military personnel killed in World War I Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Category:English male poets --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jeffery Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Day) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Day?action=history)). 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