KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine, June 12, 2009
Bush Sr. Makes 85th Bday Parachute Jump
George H.W. Bush Lands Safely In Maine, Vows To Repeat On 90th
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Play CBS Video Video Pres. George H.W. Bush Skydives Living up to a promise which he had made for his 85th birthday, former President George H.W. Bush skydived out of an airplane. Maggie Rodriguez takes a look at the elder Bush?s big parachute jump.
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Former President Bush celebrated his 85th birthday with a parachute jump. He'll do the same for his 90th, he says. (AP)
Bush made the tandem jump from 10,500 feet with Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott of the Army's Golden Knights, who guided them to a gentle landing on the lawn of St. Ann's Church.
"Well, we made it. It was a great day in the air," Bush said after he was removed from his harness.
He said he enjoyed it so much that he planned to do it again when he turns 90.
When he was president, Bush was an avid jogger, speed golfer, fisherman and tennis player. He said he has slowed down since then, but he doesn't intend to stop moving.
He told reporters that he jumped Friday for two reasons: to experience the exhilaration of free-falling and to show that seniors can remain active and do fun things.
"Just because you're an old guy, you don't have to sit around drooling in the corner," he said. "Get out and do something. Get out and enjoy life."
His first parachute jump came when his plane was shot down over the Pacific in 1944 during World War II. He bailed out at 1,500 feet (450 meters) after a bombing mission. His two crewmates didn't make it.
In 1997, Bush fulfilled a wartime promise he made to himself that someday he'd jump from a plane for fun by hopping out over Yuma, Arizona, and he jumped again on his 75th birthday at his library in Texas.
His days of solo parachuting ended at age 80 when bad weather forced him to scrap his plan to go alone. He made not one but two tandem jumps, both with Elliott, in Texas.
The skydiving jump marked Bush's seventh parachute leap from an airplane. His last jump was in November 2007 at the reopening of his presidential library at Texas A&M University. He made that jump unannounced after having hip replacement surgery.
Friday marked his first jump over an ocean since World War II.
Former First Lady Barbara Bush doesn't object to her octogenarian husband's fascination with skydiving.
"She is fine with it, particularly now that he does tandem jumps. She has so much trust and faith in the Golden Knights that she's fine with it," said Jean Becker, Bush's chief of staff.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Michelle Obama tells how her role as the First Lady has changed her perspective.
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See all 86 CommentsIf you don't agree with his politics just respect the fact that he was flying combat over the Pacific on behalf of his nation.
HAIL OBAMA???
Posted by walt1944
No, bit your little man crush on Obama does.
Posted by kbbpll at 7:56 AM : Jun 13, 2009
+ report abuse + permalink
you are a complete moron who knows nothing about politics. you must be a dumbacrate! reading is fundamental, but you wouldn't know that, because you don't know how to read!
I wonder if he'll share some of his bloodmoney with the families of the 3/4 of a million dead men, women, and children he helped murder?
at least americans were proud of the father. almost as happy as they are to be rid of dubya!
Of course he made a tandem jump, he's 85 years old!
Do it solo and impress me....
Although I think it's great what Bush is doing at such an age, or any age, for that matter, he shouldn't have said what he said about how you don't have to sit in a corner drooling when you get old.
George, some people at your age are drooling in a corner because they are very ill, and don't have much time left because of it.
If you have health, you should take advantage of it.
But some people are too sick to go skydiving, and can't help but drool in a corner.
That's AS I SEE IT. I'm Mike "Mainer Mike" Brown.
Thank you for your service in WW2.
The world would be a far better place because of it.
Bush Senior is DIRECTLY responsible for the economic mess we had in 1991 and thanks to him, we have FREE TRADE!!!!!
And, of course, thanks to him we have been "blessed" with George W. Bush and Jeb Bush!!!!
Does that make your stomach turn or what???
HAIL OBAMA???
I wonder if he'll share some of his bloodmoney with the families of the 3/4 of a million dead men, women, and children he helped murder?
Posted by randomlybanned at 9:08 PM : Jun 12, 2009
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Wrong. It actually helps keep us from making the same mistakes again in the future.
More importantly, perhaps, expressing it also helps ensure that our children and grandchildren hear it and internalize it as well, so that THEY don't make the same mistake in the future.
People have long memories. Family units have even longer memories. When a political party screws one generation over, the lesson lives on through many of the generations that follow.
Republicans often tend to forget that particular dynamic, for some reason. But it's the reason they so seldom enjoy the honor of being voted into positions of political power.
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