George HW Bush

[waltermrich]

At the funeral for George HW Bush one of the speakers Gave a History of his years as a Naval aviator during WW2 in the Pacific and his more than 200 take offs from a carrier and his encounter with Flax off the island of Sicejima ,after dropping his bombs on a radio installation catching fire and an attempt to make it out to sea, realizing they had to jump from the aircraft he told his two crew mates to hit the silk he jumped hit his head on the tail as he fell to sea, plunging deep into the sea he emerged burning from sea water in his throat and eyes, climbing onto his raft he realized his two crew mates did not make it. He anguished over that then, and the speaker said he cried and struggled with the thought why did God let him live and his crew mates not, struggling over that the rest of his life. He was picked up by a US Sub at 4 minutes before noon that morning. Later in life at Kennebunkport his summer home He inscribed on a stone wall CAVU meaning Ceiling and Visibility unlimited, Explaining that is how he felt his life had been, blessed by God He was an aviator at heart. The speaker said when he was 90 he parachuted from a plane landing in a cemetery where his mother was buried saying with humor that if he did not make it that would be his destination. He was eulogized as a great president and I think indeed he was.

[M Towsley]

If you want to read a very interesting story about the Japanese on Chichi-jima and the atrocities they committed upon our men who were prisoners, read the book Flyboys. Bush was very close to becoming a statistic rather than a President.

[waltermrich]

Thank you I will look up the book.

[lfries]

I read the book. Very good.