Young volunteer became decorated pilot
Joined U.S. Navy at 18
A young George H.W. Bush, who volunteered to serve his country after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, went on to become a decorated American hero — rising in rank and risking his life throughout his short but dynamic military career. Immediately upon turning 18 in 1942, Bush enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Nearly one year after being sworn in, Bush became an officer of the U.S. Naval Reserve and earned his wings as a naval aviator just shy of his 19th birthday. Bush flew torpedo bombers off aircraft carriers and continued to excel in his career despite getting hit by enemy fire during a strike over Chichi Jima, a Japanese island. Bush continued to steer the doomed plane and drop bombs before bailing out. He was miraculously rescued by a U.S. submarine, making him the only member of his squadron to survive the attack. The future president went on to win the Distinguished Flying Cross and three air medals and was discharged in September 1945 with the rank of lieutenant. “I was scared, but I was willing. I was young, but I was ready. I had barely lived, when I began to watch men die,” said Bush during his 1992 GOP acceptance speech after being nominated to pursue a second term as president. “I began to see the special place of America in the world, and I began to see, even then, that the world would become a much smaller place, and faraway places could become more and more like America.”