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Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Coinciding dates of Mom, Dad, Geo. H.W. Bush, Reagan & JFK

On the frigid winter morning of November 21, 1942, eighteen-year-old aviation cadet George Bush lifted off a tarmac in Minnesota and flew a small trainer plane by himself for the first time. “It is hard for non-pilots to understand the joy of a first solo flight,” Bush later commented. “All of us who soloed thought we were ten feet tall.”  George was flying a Stearman N2S biplane, nicknamed "the Yellow Peril"...also "the Washing Machine" because so many washed out, unable to handle her.
Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley 

On that same date,  Mom and Dad, Robert and Verna, were married. The  marriage was to be in Minnesota, near where Bush first soloed, unbeknownst to any of them. But Dad couldn't get enough leave from his Alameda Coast Guard station, Oakland, Calif., and so he and Mom agreed to meet in Reno, find a minister, and tie the knot there.

The presidential coincidences didn't end there. John Kennedy died Nov. 22, 1963, my wife Suzanne's daddy's birthday. And Ronald Reagan died June 5, 2004, my daddy's birthday.

My Air Force commission was signed by Lyndon Johnson, and I've served nine presidents, including both George Bushes. I saw Gerald Ford at Butler Field House and shook hands with Vice President Spiro Agnew in Japan. 

Apparently my presence with those two ended their careers.

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