Lore in Call of Duty games is spread across multiple titles and time periods, but some of the operators have really unique stories. Looking into these stories like the like Wayne ‘D-Day’ Davis lore can add a lot to their character.
When choosing an operator in Call of Duty or Warzone, it can help to know a bit more about the characters. These characters might be different skins you can pick, but they have plotlines that can help you to get more involved in the gameplay.
The lore in recent Call of Duty games has become quite involved, stretching across multiple titles and spin-offs like Warzone. Davis lore in the game is a great example of how Call of Duty interweaves the fictional with real-world events to add more personal stakes to games.
This is everything that we know about D-Day, or Davis. Across their background, missions, time in Warzone, other games, and outside of the games.
Davis Backstory and Lore
D-Day is a character that originated in Modern Warfare, but he’s been active in Warzone since launch too. Between these two games and spin-offs, we know quite a bit about his background and plotlines.
The D-Day or Davis lore in Warzone starts with his background and moves into his later life and missions. Across the games, we have a good idea of the character and what makes him tick.
We’ll start with Davis’ background and origins, then move into the active plots and Davis lore from Warzone and other games.
D-Day Backstory & Origins
D-Day was born in El Paso, Texas in 1983. We actually know the exact date of his birth! It’s September 17th, as his birthday is important for a plot point.
We also, for some reason, know the names of his parents. Davis’ mother was Grace Maria Gonzalez and his father was Carl Wayne Davis. They don’t have any more information or relevance though.
That’s just about all the information on D-Day’s backstory that we’re given in the Davis lore! Things are all pretty normal in Davis’ life until 2001.
We can draw some meaning from his background still though. The lack of information says something about the character too. D-Day is essentially portrayed as an average American up until this point.
This even factors into his skin design throughout the games. He was basically known as Mr. America in Modern Warfare.
He doesn’t have a tragic backstory like you’ll see in Otter Lore. D-Day is just a normal guy, so how does he end up with such a storied military career?
Joining the Army
It starts with the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United State. These attacks shocked Davis into joining up for the United States Army at the first opportunity, which was on his exact 18th birthday a few days later.
The age for enlisting in the US is 17 rather than 18. However, Call of Duty often uses 18 as a sign-up date. You’ll see it pop up in other Warzone operator lore too. While he could have technically signed up before his 18th birthday, it’s a smoother backstory for him this way!
This origin fits in pretty well with Davis lore. His reason for joining up works great with his average American origins. The US Military in the real world saw one of its biggest enlistment boosts just after 9/11. It had a similar effect on enlistment as Pearl Harbour.
Having Davis’ origins come from this makes him a fairly relatable character, acting on a call to action that many in that period felt too.
Davis’ Early Days in the Army
Davis entered the army in 2001, but it took until May 2022 for him to fully pass the US Army Rangers School. Once his training was completed, he was deployed to Afghanistan. He was part of Operation Enduring Freedom here.
Following that, he was moved into Operation Iraqi Freedom. These are both real-world military exercises. This is in contrast to some Operators that have more fictionalized pasts, although Mara lore has real operations from this period too.
Alongside being part of these two operations, he served in some notable battles too. Davis was involved in both the first and second Battles of Fallujah.
These were 2004 operations. They’ve since become known as some of the most intense conflicts of the Iraq War. Some US servicemen have since compared it to battles in the Vietnam War for the scale of urban conflict.
These stories are roughly where D-Day lore moves out of the real-world operations and gets into the plot of the games. This backstory is important for understanding the character though. It gives him a richer background than some of the operators in Warzone.
Gaps in Davis Lore
The rest of the Davis lore picks back up when he re-enters active combat, but we have a bit of a gap here. Between his time in the Middle East and missions after Task Force Orange, he fits a lot in.
During this time, Davis gets married. He marries Christina Katherine Lowery. However, the relationship doesn’t last.
That’s about all we know of D-Day lore for these years. It leaves a bit of a gap. Eventually, though, Davis is back involved with conflict but this time with a bit more personal baggage.
Davis Joins Task Force Orange
The next major development for Davis lore doesn’t quite come until 2009. It was then that he was redeployed into Afghanistan. He worked a lot with the Task Force Orange here.
Working with Task Force Orange is an important development in Davis lore for how his skills develop. This is part of the Intelligence Support Agency, a different part of the US Army Special Operations Unit.
Their main role in Afghanistan was to gather information and communications from enemies in the region. They were involved in the search for Saddam Hussain extensively in the early part of the war. After this, their role is less clear but they worked more in intelligence than outright combat.
This marks a change for D-Day and an early sign of his moves away from rank and file and into the grander operations that we tend to see in Call of Duty!
This change is reflected in the next assignment in Davis lore. It’s here where things really heat up for the operator.
Work with Alice and Relationship with Jefferies
Davis was part of Task Force Orange for five years until he worked with Alice. This is probably the biggest mission in his backstory for Warzone and Call of Duty. Alice is another Call of Duty operator who also has lore in these games.
She’ll become more relevant with the Demon Dogs. This early link working with D-Day is what propels the rest of his career.
Along with Alice, Davis was involved in an ‘unsanctioned’ assault. This was on a stronghold to attempt to rescue Private Grayson Jefferies. This took place in 2014 and is a bit of a turning point for D-Day.
Jefferies had an intimate relationship with Davis. This led to some heightened emotions during this mission and clouded the judgment of some involved.
Davis lore doesn’t dig too deep into his personal life and connections. However, with a failed marriage and now a former lover taken prisoner, life had got a bit complicated.
Alice and Davis Storm the Stronghold
Alice and Davis attempt their rescue of Jefferies but the mission isn’t a full success. They did manage to take down the stronghold, but they found Jefferies dead in the chaos. I
f their goal had been the capture of the stronghold, it would have been an overall win. Given the operators’ relationships though, it wasn’t the most positive outcome for Davis.
The entire ordeal had blowback for everyone involved. Alice was demoted for her role in the affair. Davis was discharged and finally sent home to undergo treatment for trauma. Essentially, it went badly for everyone.
This isn’t the end of Davis lore though. He eventually comes through these problems, even if he’s changed by them.
Davis Returns to Combat
The next mission for D-Day involved him returning to Afghanistan. This time he’s with the Hadrian Defence Solutions group.
This is a private military company and a bit of a different thing from his past work. Although, this kind of setup has become common in some military operations.
Davis returning to combat gives his story a chance at redemption. All of this so far has occurred years before the games Davis is most famous for! The Davis lore would be a little dull if it ended there.
Davis throws himself back into action in any way possible. After he was discharged, this had to be via private companies at least for a while. Many real-life former military personnel follow this route as it can prove a lucrative use for their unique skills and experience gained in combat.
It was while he was back in Afghanistan that Davis was approached once again. Alice has managed to bounce back from her last failure and has a unique offer for Davis.
Demon Dogs
While Alice was officially demoted, she had time to rebuild trust. During this time, she ended up in the Demon Dogs group.
The Demon Dogs unit is a major factor in Modern Warfare. They were involved in various operations against AL-Qatala. As a Call of Duty faction involved in some of the most high-stakes missions, each member seems to have a mixed backstory like those we’ve looked at here.
D-Day took Alice up on her offer and joined the Demon Dogs in October 2019. He moved out of PMC operations and more directly returned to the life of an operator.
The Invasion of Verdansk
Now working with the Demon Dogs, there is a quieter period before something major for Davis lore pops up. Like most operators, his next major mission was the Invasion of Verdansk.
Al-Qatala Invasion of Versank was a full-on operation. Operators from all factions got involved. It’s probably the central plot point in most of the lore for the original batch of operators for Call of Duty.
D-Day was one of the operators who got deployed to try and push back this invasion. This was a playable operation though so it’s more up in the air what he actually did in this sprawling mission.
Toxic Gas in Verdansk
Following the Invasion, A messy situation developed in Verdansk. We don’t know the full details of what Davis did as it reached this point. We do know though that he was involved in a release of deadly gas in Verdansk.
The operator Ghost would later find evidence that shed more light on what happened.
Operators active in the area have turned against each other in the aftermath. With no clear authority established, some groups were pushed into less than noble actions.
The Armistice operators began to target other groups. D-Day was involved in this in some capacity as the fighting spread, though we don’t know to what extent.
That’s the last major bit of D-Day lore across the games for this character! It doesn’t exactly leave on the brightest note. However, Davis does have a decent arc across all of this, with ups and downs within the Warzone lore.
Lore in Call of Duty Mobile
That’s all of the D-Day lore that we get across Warzone and Modern Warfare. Like most other operators from these games, the character makes an appearance within Call of Duty Mobile too.
This is a spin-off of the main games. it uses the same characters, but technically takes place in a different timeline! While some operators have expansive storylines in this game, D-Day doesn’t make many major appearances in Comics or the plotline.
D-Day is a part of Call of Duty Mobile though. He even got some new skins. He was added in Season 11, the Final Snow.
Davis might show up in the Comics in the future. This would expand on Davis lore. so it’s worth keeping this in mind.
Davis Trivia and General Lore
D-Day’s main storylines are largely within the games, but there’s some other information out there about the character!
Outside of the missions he was involved in, we can learn quite a bit about D-Day from the background and ‘behind the scenes trivia on the operator. These are some of the most important things to know about Davis outside of his plotlines.
What Faction is Davis in?
Most operators in Warzone have a history of belonging to various different units and factions within the games. These are all of the affiliations that D-Day has had over the years in Warzone lore:
- U.S Army
- U.S Army Rangers
- Armistice
- Coalition
- Demon Dogs
What’s D-Day’s Real Name?
D-Day’s real name is Wayne Davis. A lot of Warzone operators have a more secret real name, going primarily by their Operator title or codesign, but Davis isn’t one of them.
His normal name is pretty widely used, you’ll see him referred to as Davis almost as much as D-Day. This is probably just down to the confusion that you’ll get from saying D-Day in a military sense without context.
What is Davis’ Rank?
D-Day’s rank in the games is Sergeant. Although he hadn’t reached that rank yet in a lot of the D-Day lore that we’ve covered here.
Since D-Day spent some time in the private sector and had some gaps, his rank isn’t entirely representative of the length of his career.
Who Voices D-Day?
D-Day is voiced by Mitch Eakins. He’s had a few video game roles outside of CoD like Medal of Honor, Horizon Forbidden West, Red Dead 2, and Days Gone. However, he’s also had film and TV roles. Including a bizarre recurring role in recent films about an evil bong.
That’s all of the Davis lore that’s active in the games at the moment. As with other operators though, it doesn’t have to be the end.
Characters can always be brought back, especially those from popular versions of the series. The Davis lore largely draws from one of the most popular CoD games, so he is fairly recognizable.
The story for D-Day does seem quite final with what we’ve already seen. Davis has had a full character arc. He’s had multiple relationships, a retirement, and a return to active service. If this is the end of the line for Davis lore, it wouldn’t feel like he’d been underserved.
