It seems that cowardice runs in the Bush family.

Papa Bush, like his stupid, monkey-faced son, was also a coward. Now we know
where pResident George got his yellow streak: it's in his genes.


 http://www.usvetdsp.com/story46.htm

George Bush Parachutes Again to Exorcise Demons of Past Betrayal
By Ted Sampley March/April/May 1997

Former President George Bush, who bailed out of a crippled Navy Avenger
bomber 53 years ago, jumped again in March of this year. His World War II
jump is historic. It made Bush the only president to ever bail out of an
airplane and the only president whose crew mates were sent careening into the
ocean because their pilot had abandoned the aircraft.

Bush's Betrayal

Chester Mierzejewski, an old war buddy of Bush, who said he was angered by
the "false assertions" made by candidate Bush when describing the incident,
gave a different account.

After 44 years of silence, Mierzejewski, who also was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross, told the New York Post that Bush had abandoned
his crew to death when there was another choice.

He said he was approximately 100 feet in front of Bush's plane as the turret
gunner for Squadron Commander Douglas Melvin's plane, "so close he could see
in the cockpit" of Bush's bomber. Mierzejewski's close wartime buddy was one
of the two crew members in Bush's plane.

According to Mierzejewski, the squadron was in a tight-formation bombing raid
against a Japanese radio installation on an island reported to be heavily
fortified. He saw "a puff of smoke" come from Bush's plane which quickly
disappeared and was certain only one man parachuted from the plane and that
it was Bush, the pilot.

Mierzejewski said the Avenger torpedo bomber was engineered so that it could
successfully crash land on water and that Bush doomed his own crew by bailing
out and leaving the bomber out of control.

Other World War II veterans also expressed concern about Bush parachuting out
of the aircraft. "He had a moral obligation to put that plane in the water in
an emergency landing," Robert Flood, a former B-17 bombardier told the press.
"He violated the primary rule for a captain of a multi-crew aircraft: The
pilot never leaves the airplane with anybody in it."

Pete Brandon, a Marine Corps Avenger pilot, who also served in the South
Pacific, said an Avenger pilot had two choices: Set the plane down in the
water or hold it steady until the two crewmen could prepare to jump.

"In an Avenger, only the pilot wore a parachute," Brandon said. "The two
crewmen wore harnesses. If the order came to bail out, they had to take chest
parachutes from a shelf and strap them on - and bail out. The Avenger was
very unstable. The pilot had to be at the controls the whole time or it would
go right over on its back."

Steve Hart, then Vice President Press Secretary, described Mierzejewski's
account as absurd. Hart said, "The Vice President has told us time and time
again what happened that day. To suggest that the account is inaccurate is
absurd."

What is absurd is the conflicting or missing reports of exactly what happened
to Bush's two crew members. According to the Post, the intelligence report on
the loss of Bush's plane in September, 1944 notes that it had become
"standard doctrine" for VT 51, Bush's bomber squadron, "to make bombing runs
on targets near water so as to retire over the water. This puts pilot and
crew in position for water rescue in event of forced landing . . . "

The same document reports, without attribution, that "smoke and flame"
engulfed Bush's engine, and that "Bush and one other person were seen to bail
out. The chute of the other person who bailed out did not open."

The report was signed by Melvin and an intelligence officer, Lt. Martin E.
Kilpatrick. Contrary to normal military procedure, the report was not dated
and Navy archives were unable to supply a subsequently completed report.

Gunner Lawrence Mueller, who lives in Milwaukee, flew on the ChiChi Jima
mission. When asked who had the best view, he replied unhesitatingly: "The
turret gunner in Melvin's plane."

Mueller's recollections, jogged by a log book that he kept, support
Mierzejewski's account. And it was noted that Bush's plane was the only one
from the squadron that did not return. Mueller told the Post, "No parachute
was sighted except Bush's when the plane went down." He also said no one
mentioned a fire engulfing Bush's plane or he would have noted it in the log
book.

The Finback, the sub which picked up Bush from his raft in the water, made no
report of a fire on Bush's plane, but did comment on his crew: "Bush stated
that he failed to see his crew's parachutes and believed they had jumped when
the plane was still over ChiChi Jima, or they had gone down with the plane."

About six hours later, the Finback picked up another pilot, James W. Beckman,
from the USS Enterprise, who stated that it was known that only one man had
parachuted from Bush's plane. "This decided us to discontinue any further
search of that area . . ."

Although the heart of Bush's story about the incident remains the same,
Mierzejewski is adamant Bush's account is not the truth and blames Bush for
the abandonment and deaths of both men.

"I think he could have saved those lives, if they were alive. I don't know
that they were, but at least they had a chance if he had attempted a water
landing," Mierzejewski said.



Like father, like son.

 http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=11947&mode=nested&order=0

Bush is a coward
Monday, June 23, 2003
By Jack Balkwill, Liberal Slant

Bush is a coward. I am the one who took his place in Vietnam, so I should
know.