“I’m floating around in this raft, paddling, and then all of a sudden I
saw this conning tower come up and saw this submarine surface.”
These are the words of George Herbert Walker Bush, many years after his rescue by USS Finback (SS-230) on September 2, 1944. On that day, LTJG Bush, USNR, future United States President, led a flight of four Avenger torpedo bombers. Their assigned target for the day was a radio communication site on Chichi Jima, a remote, but heavily forti- fied island 15E miles north of Iwo Jima and 62E miles south of Tokyo. The young lieutenant’s flight crew included LTJG William “Ted” White, USNR, substituting for his regular gunner, and radio operator ARM2/c John “Del” Delaney, all attached to Torpedo Squadron 51(VT-51) of USS San Jacinto (CVL-30).
There were over 20,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors garrisoned on Chichi Jima. It had a harbor that once served as a 3-day anchorage for
U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry’s flagship in June 1853. A Jap- anese midget submarine base had been established in the same harbor a week before Bush and his Avengers attacked the island. Six midget submarines left Yokosuka under tow. Only three made it to Chichi Jima and one of those was later sunk by one of our Navy bombers.
Six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in fact the day after his 18th birthday, Bush enlisted in the Navy Reserve. He became an aviation cadet and underwent preflight training. By June 19D3, he had been commissioned an ensign. At the time, at age 19, he became the youngest naval aviator in U.S. history. After flight training, Ensign Bush was assigned to VT-51. He was promoted to LTJG on August 1, 19DD. During the war, he flew 58 combat missions and made 126 carrier landings.
As the sun climbed higher over the eastern horizon, Bush’s Aveng- er sprang from San Jacinto’s flight deck and headed straight for Chi- chi Jima, with Ted as his gunner and Del as his radioman, and with four 500-pound bombs. Meantime, Finback, a Gato-class fleet boat, on lifeguard duty, monitored anti-aircraft fire and listened for radio reports about downed pilots. Finback, under the command of LCDR Robert Williams, was two weeks into her tenth war patrol.
Just before reaching his target, Bush’s Avenger came under intense anti-aircraft fire. His engine was hit and caught afire. Years later Bush said, “We were trained to complete our runs no matter what the obsta- cle.” He continued his dive-bomb attack, opened his bomb bay doors, dropped his payload, inflicted serious damage to the radio station and tower, and then headed for the open sea. “It was when I saw the flame along the wing there that I said, ‘I better get out of here’. I told the crew to get out. I dove out onto the wing. I hit my head on the tail, a glancing blow, and bleeding like a stuck pig.” Many years later he talked about bailing out of that Avenger at 1,500 feet and often celebrated his birth- day with parachute jumps. His dedication to completing his bombing mission at Chichi Jima earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Unfortunately, his crew did not survive; one went down with the plane, the other’s parachute failed to open. Bush hit the water about sev- en miles off Chichi Jima. He inflated his life-raft, crawled in and began paddling to keep from drifting back to the island. A Japanese boat was sent out to capture him but was strafed by one of the other VT-51 pilots. With friendly aircraft circling overhead, guarding him, Bush spent four hours in enemy waters awaiting rescue. It was then when he realized Ted and Del were gone. In fact, of the nine other crewmen of those four Avengers, he was the only survivor.
Later Bush recalled, “I was sick to my stomach. I was scared. If somebody didn’t pick me up, I would have been captured and killed. They were very brutal on Chichi Jima.”
At 0933, Finback received a radio message about a downed plane. With two Hellcat fighters as escorts, Finback closed within nine miles of the southern coast of Chichi Jima. At 1156, the skipper spotted Bush’s bright yellow raft through the periscope. What happened next is de- scribed in Bush’s own words, “I saw this thing coming out of the water and I said to myself ‘Jeez, I hope it’s one of ours’.”
Five submariners stood ready for action on Finback’s forward deck. Bush saw their friendly faces as the submarine slowly approached his raft just off the starboard bow. One of the men, TM1/c Donnet Kohler, reached down and grabbed Bush’s hand as the others held Kohler. Upon being yanked topside, the exhausted, bedraggled 20-year-old aviator uttered, “Happy to be aboard.” As he made his way aft, his raft was destroyed by Finback gunfire.
At 1236, Finback received word of another downed pilot being shelled about two miles off nearby Haha Jima. The spirits of all hands sunk to 300 feet. At 1505, with aircraft zooming in on a spot in the water, Finback dived to 55 feet. Twenty-five minutes later, a rubber life-raft was sighted. As the boat roared past, the skipper ordered “All Back Full” and Finback twisted around to the raft. The pilot hooked one arm around the periscope, the other around his raft, with his bailing bucket trailing behind. The captain ordered “All Stop” to allow the pilot to climb into his raft. They started to tow him but at two-thirds speed he was swamped again. Finback came up to 38 feet to get him out of the water. Once five miles away from shore, the boat planed up, opened the hatch and Ensign James Beckman was finally rescued. Beckman reported that he saw only one-man parachute from Bush’s Avenger. A search for the missing crew was unsuccessful. Their bodies were never recovered.
LTJG Bush, along with four other rescued aviators, remained on- board Finback for a month as part of the crew, assisting with rescue missions and standing watches as they searched for enemy ships and submarines. During their time onboard, the boat sank two small freight- ers and endured depth charges and bomb attacks. At the end of Finback’s patrol, the aviators disembarked at Midway. Following some rest and re- laxation in Hawaii, Bush returned to USS San Jacinto in the Philippines. While on leave, he married Barbara Pierce on January 6, 1945. He spent the balance of the war training pilots at Norfolk. At the end of the war he was released from active duty. In November 1948 he was promoted to Lieutenant and in October 1955 he resigned his commission.
On October 7, 2006, the last Nimitz-class carrier was christened USS George H.W. Bush by his daughter Dorothy in honor of our 41st president and his service to the nation. The ship’s call-sign is Avenger. George died on November 30, 2018 at age 94. He was preceded in death by Barbara, his beloved wife of 73 years. In war, in peace, in office and in life, George was a true American hero, and an honorary submariner.
Bibliography
George H.W. Bush Presidential Library film footage of rescue, available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3orNe5nFw4.
Kruta, Virginia. “Here Are the Harrowing Details of How George
H.W. Bush Earned the Distinguished Flying Cross,” The Daily Caller,
12/01/2018.
“Lieutenant Junior Grade George Herbert Walker Bush, USNR and His Rescue by Finback,” U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History Blog, Sep- tember 2, 2010.
Patch, Nathaniel S., “Mission: Lifeguard – American Submarines in the Pacific Recovered Downed Pilots,” www.archives.gov/files/publi- cations/prologue/2014/fall/lifeguard.pdf, (includes declassified copy of USS Finback’s log entries for 02 September 1944).
“War History Online,” https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world- war-ii/george-h-bush-narrowly-escaped-executed-eaten-japanese-wwii. html, February 9, 2018.
Former Vice President George H.W. Bush’s response to the Naval Submarine League Honorary Membership, framed and on display in the Alexandria, Virginia office
