December 7, 1941. Young George HW Bush is walking past Cochran Chapel at Andover when he hears about the attack on Pearl Harbor. “My God,” he thought. “This changes everything.”
@jmeacham wrote about this in his Bush biography, “Destiny and Power.” 1/
@jmeacham wrote about this in his Bush biography, “Destiny and Power.” 1/
Bush decided he wouldn’t apply to college. He would enlist in the military.
He was 17.
“After Pearl Harbor, it was a different world altogether,” he recalled. “It was a red, white, and blue thing. Your country’s attacked, you’d better get in there and try to help.” 2/
He was 17.
“After Pearl Harbor, it was a different world altogether,” he recalled. “It was a red, white, and blue thing. Your country’s attacked, you’d better get in there and try to help.” 2/
3/ Bush even thought about joining Canada’s Royal Air Force because, as he later recalled, you “could get through much faster.” Ultimately he decided to become a Navy aviator for the US.
There was some pressure for Bush to go to college first. Andover’s headmaster suggested students would be of more help to the war with some college under their belts; War Secretary Henry Stimson had the same advice when he spoke to Bush’s class. 4/
Bush’s father Prescott, who had served in World War One, asked his son if Stimson’s words had changed his mind. Writes @jmeacham: “The answer was no: The son was determined. By his own account he was ‘headstrong.’” 5/
June 12, 1942 was a big day for Bush. He turned 18, graduated from Andover, and took a train to Boston to be sworn into the Navy. Flight training would begin in Chapel Hill the coming weeks. 6/
7/ Prescott saw his son off to Chapel Hill. Writes @jmeacham: “It was the first time Bush had ever seen his father cry. ‘So off I went, scared little guy,’ Bush recalled. ‘Got on the train, didn’t know anybody.’ He was eighteen years old, and he was going to war.” -fin-
