Posted on 01/01/2007 11:44:51 AM PST by Coleus
As the world watched the solemn state funeral for former President Gerald Ford on television, the family and friends of Maj. Gen. Guy C. Swan III were especially proud of the man in charge of those ceremonies.
Swan, who grew up in Wayne, was the military escort for Betty Ford at the funeral ceremonies in California and in the nation's capital, where he is the commander of the Military District of Washington. "We're proud of the way he's handling himself," Swan's father, Guy Jr., who now lives in the Cedar Crest retirement village in Pequannock, said Sunday. "He seemed to be very compassionate to Mrs. Ford."
Swan's widely televised role as Mrs. Ford's escort set off a buzz among former neighbors in the Pines Lake section where he grew up and among Wayne Hills High School classmates. "I spoke with friends in other states on the phone. E-mails went around. We all sat and watched him on television," said Joanne McCammon, who attended school with Swan from kindergarten through high school graduation in 1972. "We were all proud of him."
McCammon was struck by how Swan was visibly comforting Mrs. Ford during the public ceremonies. "It was most amazing. He's always been a very kind person," she said.
Guy Swan Jr. recalled how his son was eager to attend West Point, where he graduated in 1976. Now he heads the Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region, which handles presidential funerals and Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, among other duties. While Swan, 52, was handling the most visible assignment of a distinguished military career, his mother, Yvonne, was helping the general's wife, Melanie, take care of their two children, his father said.
The public sees only a little bit of what is going on at a president's funeral, said Guy Swan Jr. "The preparation and planning is tremendous."
Many of NJ's native sons have gone on to do great things. Remember the General who caught Saddam in his hole. It was Gen. Ray Odierno of NJ who caught him. And how about Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf from Trenton, the same area from where Justices Scalia and Alito were raised. Thomas Edison, Michelle Malkin, etc. the list goes on and on.
List of people from New Jersey
New Jersey's Revolutionary past getting a salute from Washington
Kudos to the General.
However I'm not sure I'd like the highlight of my career to be remembered as being a Ford Escort.
Thanks, I'm here all week.
can you imagine the fight in the military to help with a Carter funeral? I feel for them. (not carter) Sorry, president or not - he deserves no respect.
That unit is fabulous. I did notice how solicitous he was of Betty Ford, and I still remember the same treatment for Nancy Reagan.
Makes me so proud of our uniformed troops.
Ford Escort >>>
lol, good one, I had to read it twice before I got it and I didn't even drink last night.
Of course, that is only now being reported. Favorable stories about our men and women in the military are not normally reported at all.
Has the media set it up so that people will think President Bush wasn't in attendance at THE funeral, even though the FUNERAL SERVICE isn't until tomorrow, where he will speak?
What can we expect but sins of omission and commission from the MSM
A friend's mother, who is just slightly younger than Betty Ford, commented that there's no way she could have walked that much and stood so long without a strong and caring man at her side.
The media won't report it, but I think most Americans are proud of our military. They're protective of us in so many ways.
The media hasn't found it necessary to mention that Sen. Reid decided it wasn't necessary for him to return from his junket to attend the funeral, have they?
But then, we already know that the media is a propaganda machine for the far Left.
Betty Ford showed remarkable physical strength thanks to the General who assisted her. The same holds true for Nancy Reagan. Our American military - THE BEST OF AMERICA!
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