December 1, 2018

For his 50+ years of service to the Republic, we Honor the life and legacy of President George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States, who passed away last night at age 94.  He was reunited with his loving wife Barbara, who passed away 8 months ago.  After Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan, and although he was accepted to Yale University and would have played on the Yale varsity baseball team, George Bush put his college education and budding baseball career on hold, in order to volunteer for military service.

George Bush volunteered for US Navy service, and at age 19 became the youngest pilot in WWII.   Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) Bush won his wings of gold and was assigned as a pilot of a torpedo bomber in an avenger and flew 58 combat missions.  On one of his missions, his avenger was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire, requiring him to bail out of his aircraft into the Pacific Ocean, and was picked up by a US Navy Submarine; that was the second time he had to bail out of his aircraft.  For combat action in WWII, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, 2 Air Medals, the Presidential Unit Citation, various Service and Campaign Medals.

President Bush served as a member of Congress, UN Ambassador, the first US Ambassador to China, the Director of the CIA, for 8 years as President Reagan’s very effective Vice President, and was subsequently elected as the 41st President of the United States.  President Bush guided the nation during the end of the Cold War, when the Berlin Wall fell, and the Soviet Union dissolved.  He brought a coalition of 35 nations together, which was the largest coalition of nations since WWII, and accomplished his goal of evicting Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi invasion force from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm.  His son Jeb Bush was elected Governor of Florida, and his son George W. Bush was elected as the 43rd President of the United States.

President George H.W. Bush was an international leader from a different era, was a member of the greatest generation, and was the longest living US President in US history.  He was a dedicated husband, a father who provided unconditional love for his children, a loving grandfather, an “American Patriot”, and an authentic Naval Hero.  President Bush was kind to me and my family, and we offer our deepest, our most sincere sympathy to his family.

President George Herbert Walker Bush had a quiet dignity, was a “Man of Honor”, and was a “Remarkable Man of Grace”.  President Bush’s passing, as the poets tell us---diminishes mankind.  God kept President Bush safe from harm in war and peace, blessed him in his worldly endeavors, and rested his Noble Soul.