Being born in 1924 would make the guy above 68 years old at WJC's first inaugural in '93, when that picture was taken. Does 68 look like the right age, or does 78 seem closer to the mark? The latter seems much closer to me.
Bush is touted to be one of the US's youngest naval aviators at not yet 19 years of age. In ostensibly his first year as a naval aviator, he was flying combat missions, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, promoted to Lieutenant JG, saw his aircraft downed and his two fellow crew members perish and rescued at sea by the USS Finback (see picture left-below). That's a lot of fortune-filled aviating before one has reached the age of 20! On what basis was he given such trust, recognition and responsibility, atop losing two fellow crew?
We can know it wasn't all on the up-and-up. At right below, George is shown with an aircraft, the propeller of which took what surely should have been a lethal round. We're meant to think he survived being hit while he was in aerial combat, but the damage--notably missing subsequent bending that would have occurred--belies that the prop was purposely damaged on the ground. I guess Al Gore borrowed on your presidency-worthy-cred ideas several decades later, right, George?
