Karl S. Day Lieutenant – General, United States Marine Corps

GENERAL KARL DAY, 76, A MARINE AVIATOR
Pioneer in Instrument Flying and Use of Radio is Dead

EAST WILLISTON, New York, January 21, 1973 – Lieutenant General Karl S. Day, Marine Corps Reserve, retired, a pioneer of Marine Corps aviation, died Friday in Nassau Hospital, Mineola.  He was 76 years old and lived here.

General Day was credited with pioneering advanced and innovations in Navy and Marine Corps aviation in instrument flying and radio navigation.

In 1957, the year he retired from the Corps, he was promoted to Lieutenant General, a rank held before by a Marine Corps Reserve officer.

He was born in Ripley County, Indiana, May 30, 1896, and graduated from Ohio State University in 1917.  He then joined the Marine Corps and piloted bombers in World War I, winning the Navy Cross.

After the war he joined American Airlines as an instrument pilot instructor.  At his retirement from the airline in 1962 he was director of flight dispatch.

In 1940 he was called back to active duty and was assigned to Admiral William E. Halsey’s staff, later becoming base commander on Peleliu Island in the West Carolines.

From 1954 to 1957, he was Marine Corps member of the Reserve Forces Policy Board.

He was the author of “Instrument of Radio Flying,” published in 1938.

Surviving are his widow, Margaret R., a son, John F., a daughter, Mrs. Nancy Trowern, and seven grandchildren.

Burial will be Tuesday in Arlington National Cemetery.

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DAY, KARL S

  • LG USMCR
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 05/30/1896
  • DATE OF DEATH: 01/19/1973
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 5  SITE 97
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

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