World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseGeorge Herbert Walker Bush was born at 173 Adams Street in Milton, Massachusetts, United States. His family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut when he was still young. He graduated from Phillips Academy in Jun 1942, the same month he turned 18 years of age, and immediately joined the US Navy. After completing a 10-month program, he was commissioned as an ensign with the US Naval Reserve and became a pilot. In Sep 1943, he was assigned to torpedo bomber squadron VT-51 as a photographic officer. In the spring of 1944, he was assigned to light carrier San Jacinto, participating in the Mariana Islands campaign, though he missed the Battle of the Philippine Sea due to losing his aircraft after an emergency landing in the water immediately after takeoff. On 25 Jul 1944, Bush shared the credit of sinking a Japanese cargo ship off Palau. On 1 Aug, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant (jg).

ww2dbaseOn 2 Sep, Bush flew an Avenger aircraft and attacked Japanese facilities on the island of Chichi Jima. Encountering heavy anti-aircraft fire, his aircraft was hit and his engine caught on fire. He struggled to complete his mission by dropping the bomb over the target, flew a few miles away from Chichi Jima, and bailed out of the aircraft. Both of his crew members were killed in action; he was rescued by submarine Finback after four hours of floating in his inflated raft. For his efforts to complete his bombing mission despite of his aircraft being seriously damaged and aflame, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

ww2dbaseBush returned to San Jacinto in Nov 1944 after serving a month aboard Finback. He flew missions in support of the American invasion of the Philippines.

ww2dbaseBush returned to the United States at the end of 1944. He flew 58 combat missions during his front line duty. For the remainder of the Pacific War, he served at Norfolk Navy Base in Norfolk, Virginia first as a torpedo bomber instructor then as the commander of torpedo bomber squadron VT-153. He was honorably discharged in Sep 1945 after Japan's surrender.

ww2dbaseBush married Barbara Pierce in Dec 1944 and entered Yale University after the war. He graduated from Yale in 1948 with a degree in economics and worked with Dresser Industries in the oil exploration business. He entered politics in the 1950s, and ran for the position of Senator for the state of Texas in 1964, but lost the election. In 1966, he was elected to the House of Representatives wing of the US Congress. Between 1971 and 1973, he was the United States' Ambassador to the United Nations. In 1974, he was appointed by President Gerald Ford, a fellow WW2 US Navy veteran, as the Chief of the US Liaison Office of Communist China, a position somewhat equivalent to an ambassador although the US officially did not recognize Communist China at the time. In 1976, he became the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1984 and 1988, Bush was twice the Vice President of the United States under President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, he was elected to the White House and became the 41st President of the United States. During his presidency, he oversaw the invasion of Panama in Dec 1989 and the first Gulf War of 1990-1991. Bush was also known as a proponent of the improvement of US-Russian relations in the post-Cold War era. Economically, he also was a key player in the initial talks that eventually led to the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 (after Bush left office).

ww2dbaseBush suffered from vascular parkinsonism, a form of Parkinson's disease that had forced him to use a motorized scooter or wheelchair since at least 2012. He passed away at his home in Houston, Texas, United States. He was the 12th US President to lay in state in the Rotunda of the US Capitol building.

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George Bush Timeline

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