President Bush 41 skydives on his 85th birthday
USA Today
June 12, 2009

Former President George H.W. Bush, as promised, took a parachute jump Friday on his 85th birthday and vowed to do it again on his 90th.

As in the past, Bush jumped while strapped to a member of the Army’s Golden Knights parachute team. The pair floated down from 10,500 feet to a landing zone near a church in Kennebunkport, Maine, where Bush has a summer home.

“It’s a great, exhilarating feeling,” he said moments after landiing. “I don’t feel a day over 84.”

On hand were his wife, Barbara, former President George W. Bush, and former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush.

“It was awesome,” Bush 43 said of the jump by Bush 41.

The elder Bush, who said he is no longer able to play golf, said there are two reasons he keeps skydiving on his birthdays:

One it feels good, it is an exhilarating experience when you start out of the plane. You get charged up, excited. Not easy to do at 85. And it sends a message all around the globe, just because you are an old guy, you don’t have to stand around drooling in the car.

Bush, who also went skydiving on his 75th and 80th birthdays, made his first jump as a Navy pilot when his plane was shot down over the Pacific during World War II, the Associated Press notes.

Source: USA Today

Posted by Picasa
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: , ,