when he was a senior at phillips academy, andover, he heard a speech by henry stimpsen, who was alsoraduate of that school, as am i, and stimpson, who had been secretary of state and secretary of war then under fdr gave a speech about service, and bush listened to the speech, and he went off and he enlisted in the navy as a pilot, and he was the youngest pilot in the entire navy. 18 years old, as jon meacham knew him budge better than i did indicadid -- much better than i did. from the point he was 18 years old until his death he was always involved in service to others of one kind or another, and both he embodied that spirit of service that has built the united states and made us a beacon of hope and decency to the world, arguably until now. he not only embodied it, but he -- he conveyed that message to others through the thousand points of light that you spoke of earlier, alex, and a whole variety of other ways. he showed once you achieve a certain status in society and even if you don't, it's incumbent on you to think about other people. >> yeah. he was an enormous success certain

. >>> i was at phillips academy andover, my last year there we'd been to chapel, your mandatory chapel. came out of the chapel, was walking across the campus there when somebody said pearl harbor has been bombed. >> the japanese have attacked pearl harbor, hawaii, by air. the attack also was made on all naval and military activities. >> yesterday december 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy. >> i didn't know much about what that really meant, but our country was at war. i mean, it had been building up that something might happen, but nothing like this, and i remember the first assembly the next day we were all trooped in, slouched on into the assembly hall there, the whole school, and the headmaster was a tough guy, dr. fies. you will stand at attention, never when they play the star spangled banner, i don't want to see you slouching around, and it made an impression on me. today when i see people, even reporters and people like that out there at the white house slouching when they play the star spangled banner i say too bad dr. fies couldn't get ahold of them. hirohito was the

sheldon bush and dorothy walker bush he grew up in greenwich, connecticut, and attended phillips academy in andover, massachusetts, where his ill lust res you career in leadership and public service began. on his 18th birthday, president bush enlisted in the united states navy and became a naval aviator. in the middle of world war ii he was commissioned as an ensign just before his 19th birthday, making him one of the youngest aviators in the navy's history. stationed in the pacific theater on the u.s.s. san jacinto , he piloted a grum monday t.b.m. avenger. on september 2, 1944, while carrying out a mission against japan, his plane was hit by enemy fire and was severely damaged. president bush completed the mission and flew out over water where he was able to escape from the plane, where he was later escued by the submarine u.s.s. finback. after recovering from his injury he returned to flying as soon as he was able he flew a total of 58 combat missions for which he receive the distinguished flying cross, three air medal theansd presidential citation. throughout the war he was encouraged and suppo

child of privilege, growing up in the northeast, going to a finishing school, you know, phillips andover academycomes the youngest navy combat pilot in world war ii and decorated, shot down in combat. and then, the arc of that life. i mean, extraordinary life. when he gets out of yale, he rushes through yale, married-- he always referred to her as barbara pierce of rye, new york. when he married barbara, rushes through yale and starts a family, rather than going to wall street where his family had deep roots and father was involved instead an oil field salesman and moves to bakersfield, california to learn oil field business from the bottom up and moves to odessa, texas and founds his own oil company and when they hunted republicans with dogs in texas and gets elected to congress and the rest is visit. what a remarkable life, but it's based in character, in integrity, in humility and respect and decency that is hard to fathom. my association with him, the time that i got to, would for him, and as a very young man, literally set the arc of my life. and so many people were similarly influenced by