Disabled Navy Veteran got gift from another one...George H W Bush's car

Jay Leno, Jenna Bush Hager surprise ailing veteran with George H.W. Bush's service car

NBC Today
By Scott Stump
April 25, 2019

Jenna Bush Hager became emotional as a former Secret Service van that used to transport her grandfather was gifted to a disabled Navy veteran.

U.S. Navy veteran David Miller proudly served his country for 10 years before a degenerative neurological condition turned life upside down for him and his family.

Jay Leno and Jenna Bush Hager are hoping a special gift that was once used by the late President George H.W. Bush, a Navy veteran himself, can help make life a little easier for a fellow sailor.

Jenna became emotional as she joined the former "Tonight Show" host to surprise Miller, 31, along with his wife, Misa, and their daughter, Rachel, 7, outside Rockefeller Plaza on TODAY Thursday.
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Hope for a kinder, gentler America, do not let it rest

Looking back over the reports from the last few days, it was stunning to see five living presidents, with their wives, gathered together to say farewell to one.

Wonder what they were thinking? Wonder if they thought about their own funerals and what will be said by those who knew them, and what history told us about them?

Somehow, I think that President Bush knew what would be said about him, that in the end, was the most important thing that can be said of anyone. He was a good man!

The following is a great article but I pulled out a couple of things that stood out for me.

 At George H.W. Bush funeral, hope for a kinder, gentler America
Chicago Tribune
Dahleen Glanton
December 5, 2018 

President Donald Trump, from left, first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter attend the funeral of George H.W. Bush. (Alex Brandon/Getty-AFP)

"At this moment, we are desperately clinging to the promise that America once represented, hoping that somehow we can begin to live up to the greatness the world has come to expect of us and that we once expected of ourselves."

"Meacham called Bush “America’s last great soldier-statesman, a 20th-century founding father.” 

But Bush’s Texas minister, the Rev. Russell Levenson, told us not to consider this the end to an era.“It doesn’t have to be,” he said. “ Perhaps it is an invitation to fill the hole that has been left behind.” 

“My hunch is heaven, as perfect as it must be, just got a bit kinder and gentler,” he said in closing. 

I don’t know about heaven. But maybe America can be."

President Bush "Congratulations on receiving your wings of gold,"

Ailing George H.W. Bush Did a Last 'CAVU' Favor for Pence's Marine Son

Military.com
By Richard Sisk
December 3, 2018

Vice President Mike Pence recalled Monday how he asked a last favor from an ailing George H.W. Bush in August on behalf of his son, Marine 1st Lt. Michael Pence -- never expecting that the former president would be able to comply.

The young Pence had just made his first tailhook carrier landing on the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush, earning his wings as a Marine pilot. Could the former president please autograph a photo for his son?

Pence said Bush's staff replied that he was no longer signing autographs, so he thought that was the end of it. But within a week, a handwritten letter and a signed photo from Bush arrived.

"Congratulations on receiving your wings of gold," Bush wrote to Pence's son. "Though we have not met, I wish you many days of CAVU ahead" -- a reference to the Navy acronym meaning "Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited" that he adopted as his motto in public service.

Pence told the story upon the arrival of Bush's casket at the Capitol as an example of the former president's basic decency and humility. Even in death, Bush performed another public service in the form of a brief respite from the partisan infighting and mudslinging of the warring factions of the White House and Congress.
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Sully will go to Walter Reed after President Bush's Funeral

"Sully went to work with Bush this summer after former first lady Barbara Bush passed away earlier this year."

Washington (CNN) Sully, a yellow Labrador service dog who worked with late former President George H.W. Bush, is accompanying his master one last time by traveling to Washington with Bush's casket.

In a photo tweeted by Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman, Sully can be seen sitting directly in front of Bush's casket at a Texas funeral home Monday morning, his head bowed in unison with the Bush family members that surround him.

A highly trained service dog, Sully will now go back into service to help other veterans and is going to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, former President George W. Bush wrote in an Instagram post.

President George H.W. Bush Passed Away

Presidents, politicians mourn passing of former President George H.W. Bush

By ABC NEWS
Dec 1, 2018

The death of former President George H.W. Bush drew an immediate outpouring of condolences from around the country and the world. From former presidents to representatives and business leaders, the praise was overwhelming for the 41st president.

His son, the 43rd president, sent an immediate statement on behalf of George H.W. Bush's children.

"Jeb, Neil, Marvin, Doro, and I are saddened to announce that after 94 remarkable years, our dear dad has died. George H.W. Bush was a man of the highest character and the best dad a son or daughter could ask for. The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41’s life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for dad and for the condolences of our friends and fellow citizens."
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Army vet holds key to a new life

Army vet holds key to a new life
Former President George H.W. Bush and Houston-based Helping a Hero presented Staff Sgt. Rene Fernandez with a new Lake Houston home after the Army veteran suffered serious injuries serving in Iraq. click link for video


Army veteran presented with new home

By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Dec. 11, 2008, 6:41PM
During his decade in the Army — more than a year of it spent in Iraq — Army Staff Sgt. Rene Fernandez built a sterling military record. The Baytown soldier led more than 300 combat missions, trained in excess of 33,000 troops. For his diligence, he amassed a bulging duffel bag of honors.

In or out of the military, Fernandez's future seemed golden.

Then in April 2004, Fernandez's Humvee detonated a roadside bomb. The officer's body absorbed most of the blast, leaving him with brain injuries that, though not fatal, ensured a life of diminished ability and pain.

Thursday morning, Lake Houston-area residents showed Fernandez their appreciation.

As packed snow glistened on nearby housetops, scores of bundled, flag-waving, cheering neighbors lined the streets of Lakeshore Subdivision to pay tribute. Then, in a ceremony highlighted by testimonials to Fernandez's valor, former President George H.W. Bush handed the former Army officer the keys to a new two-story, four-bedroom home.

The house was provided by Helping a Hero, a Houston-based organization that helps veterans. The house, the ninth awarded to seriously injured vets, was built through the cooperation of Perry Homes and dozens of donors.
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