US

Here Are The Harrowing Details Of How George H.W. Bush Earned The Distinguished Flying Cross

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
Font Size:

Former President George H.W. Bush was just a 20-year-old navy pilot when he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, a medal given to those who display heroism in aerial flight.

What should have been a routine bombing run quickly went sideways and almost killed the man who would later become president. The two other members of his crew — William G. “Ted” White and John “Del” Delaney — were not so fortunate.

It was September 2, 1944, and Bush was flying toward an island called Chichi Jima to bomb a Japanese radio station. His Avenger light bomber — one of four tasked from the USS San Jacinto for this particular mission — took a hit from anti-aircraft fire, but Bush kept going and managed to drop his payload and damage the target. He said later, “We were trained to complete our runs no matter what the obstacle.”

He was able to reverse course and made it a few miles out to sea before he realized they had no choice but to bail out. Radioing his crew members to strap on their parachutes, he did so himself and prepared to jump. The wind carried him into the tail of the Avenger, where he hit his head — but his parachute opened and he landed in the water moments later. Bloodied and bruised, he kicked off his shoes and swam about 50 yards to a life raft.

Noticing that he was drifting toward the island he had just bombed, he fought off waves of seasickness and paddled with his hands to keep from being swept ashore. He later learned that American sailors who were captured were tortured and killed — some beheaded — and that four were cooked and eaten by the Japanese according to the book “Flyboys.”

Four hours he spent in that raft. American aircraft circled above him, guarding him as they waited for a water rescue. He realized that both of his crew members were gone. In fact, of the nine American pilots who escaped their planes that day, Bush was the only one who survived. He later said that after thanking God for protecting him, he asked just one question: “Why had I been spared and what did God have for me?”

Bush also knew that a letter was en route to his beloved Barbara, sent before his plane was hit, telling her that “all was well” — and he feared that by the time she received it, that might not be true. “For a while there I thought I was done,” he told Jon Meacham for his biography, “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush.”

The USS Finback, a lifeguard submarine, arrived after several hours and rescued the young lieutenant. “I saw this thing coming out of the water,” Bush said later, “and I said to myself, ‘Jeez, I hope it’s one of ours.'”

WATCH:

Bush received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions leading up to his own rescue and remained on the USS Finback for a month, assisting in the rescues of other stranded pilots. (RELATED: President George H.W. Bush Passes Away At 94)

In addition to the DFC, Bush was awarded three Air Medals and a Presidential Unit Citation — which he shared with his unit on board the USS San Jacinto. He had flown a total of 58 combat missions.

Follow Virginia on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel