So young—and off to war.
.
His actions during WWII are somewhat suspect. Hailed as a hero, but marred by the deaths of his crew when his plane was shot up.
On September 2, 1944, the plane he was piloting was hit by Japanese fire during a bombing run over Chichi Jima, a small island in the Pacific. Bush successfully parachuted to the ocean surface, where he was rescued. His two crew members perished.
... there are two unresolved issues: What did Bush know of his crew members’ fate? And how badly was his plane hit at the moment when he decided to bail out?
...Navy regulations dictate that officers who are thought to have abandoned crew members could be court-martialed.
... In 2002 he told the author James Bradley that he had not known the fate of either of his crew members.
Excerpts from
https://whowhatwhy.org/2014/09/02/an-enduring-mystery-about-bush-41s-wwii-escape-from-death/