geeky
In 1926 Prescott Bush moved his family to Greenwich, Connecticut. He took a job as an executive with US Rubber in New York City. Prescott Bush had amassed a number of powerful connections, many of which stemmed from the legendary Skull and Bones club at his alma mater, Yale University. He was going places in the corporate world and soon he left US Rubber to join his father-in-law's investment bank. In 1931 the firm would merge with Brown Brothers to form Brown Brothers Harriman. Prescott Bush was one of 19 founding partners in the firm.
The Bush family were High Church Episcopalians. Prescott Bush loved to sing and had once founded a glee club. Their son Poppy was more interested in sports, and proved to be very athletic. In 1937 George H. Bush followed the example of his older brother Prescott Jr., who he admired, and he chose to enroll in Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. There he excelled in baseball and soccer and became the captain of both school teams. He was said to have had a strong competitive nature like his father. (Prescott Bush refused to let President Dwight Eisenhower win when the two men went golfing together.) George H. Bush was elected to be president of his senior class and was also on the editorial board of the school newspaper, the Phillipian. He chaired the annual campus charity drive as well. Bush suffered a setback in his senior year when he nearly died from a staph infection in his right arm. He was hospitalized for a long period of time.
Being born wealthy did not seem to make George H. Bush feel self-entitled, and his mother is credited for this. She was said to have preached the value of not being self-centered and to have taught him to give credit to others. From his father, he was taught the importance of service. Prescott Bush had joined the US Army in 1917 when the US entered the First World War and he saw action with the American Expeditionary Force in France. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, George H. Bush enlisted as soon as he turned 18 in June of 1942, following his high school graduation. Secretary of War Henry Stimson had been the graduation guest speaker at Andover that year and he was encouraging the class to stay in school, but this did not deter the 41st President. He signed up to become an aviator, earning his wings in 1943 and becoming the youngest pilot in the US Navy.
On a Christmas break, Bush met Barbara Pierce at a country club dance. She was home from the girls' school she was attending in Charleston, South Carolina. Her parents were Marvin and Pauline Pierce. Marvin was a director of McCall's Publishing Company, and she became the "girl back home" that Bush wrote letters to when he was sent overseas to join the Pacific Theater of the war.
Bush was trained in photographic intelligence by the navy. He flew a torpedo bomber that was also equipped with cameras. His first bombing mission took place in May of 1944, flying from an aircraft carrier called the San Jacinto. Following the capture of Guam in August of 1944, Bush's squadron was assigned the task of taking out a Japanese radio transmission center on the island of Chichi Jima in order to prevent Japanese communication of the movement of US forces. On September 2, 1944, Bush flew his Avenger into Japanese anti-aircraft fire. His plane was hit and the cockpit of his aircraft filled with smoke, but a determined pilot was able to drop his payload of bombs before heading back to the San Jacinto. Not being able to make it, he and his two crew mates bailed out of the plane. Bush his his head on the tail of the plan and ripped his parachute. He fell 2000 feet into the Pacific, but somehow managed to escape injury. Another pilot saw him in the water, enabling his rescue by a submarine before approaching Japanese ships could get to him.
Bush's crewmates were not as fortunate. He blamed himself for their loss, stating in a letter to his parents, "I feel so terribly responsible for their fate." Although he could have asked to be sent home, he chose to return to his ship instead, and flew another eight missions before going back in November of 1944. By that time he had flown 58 missions.
After he returned, he married Barbara Pierce on January 6, 1945. He was mustered out of the service after the Japanese surrender in August of 1945. George H. Bush was 20 years old, married, and had been awarded a distinguished flying cross, and two gold stars. He returned to Yale where he would play first base for the school's baseball team and play in the first two College World Series. He modestly described himself as "all glove, no hit" referring to the fact that he was a better fielder than a hitter. He joined the Skull and Bones society, but was instrumental in convincing the club to break its color barrier and allow African-American members to join.
On July 6, 1946, George and Barbara Bush welcomed their first child into the world, a baby boy that they named George Walker Bush.