Posted on 04/11/2004 8:15:37 AM PDT by Brian Mosely
FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - For the second straight year, President Bush was celebrating Easter Sunday at Fort Hood, whose troops have come under deadly attacks in Iraq.
Bush made the 50-mile helicopter flight from his Crawford ranch, arriving as a light rain fell and telling reporters, "Happy Easter." It was the president's first public appearance since he arrived for an Easter break on his ranch on April 5.
During the church service at the base chapel, Bush sat with his family, bowing his head as the minister read a prayer: "Almighty God, we commend your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of the armed forces at home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace ... give them courage to face the perils which beset them."
At least nine troops from the base were killed in Iraq in the past week. Thirty-one troops from Fort Hood who were wounded in a firefight in Baghdad last week were airlifted back to the central Texas base for medical treatment and family reunions.
Bush planned to meet with some of those soldiers.
The soldiers were wounded April 4 at the outset of one of the deadliest weeks of street fighting in the 13-month-old conflict. Seven soldiers from Fort Hood died in the same skirmish, officials said.
Last Easter, Bush rejoiced with two soldiers who had been taken prisoner and then were rescued. "I thank God for their lives," Bush said outside the military chapel.
Accompanying the president on the half-day trip were his wife, mother-in-law, twin daughters, parents and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the military, covering 339 square miles.
Are they the Dolly sisters? ;-)
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