27 Dec 2006
Former President Gerald Ford dies at 93

Not all stereotypes are without merit, and Mr. Ford had quite the reputation as a bumbler. I was privileged to personally witness him in action once upon a time ...

I was stationed at Andrews AFB outside Washington during most of the Watergate crisis, going to Vietnamese language school at the old Anacostia Navy Yard. One of the "perks" of being at Andrews was being "invited" to the flight line whenever we were off duty and the President was flying in. As a consequence, I watched both Nixon and Ford come and go many times.

I forget the exact circumstances surrounding this, but Mr. Ford was arriving in Marine One (the helicopter) at Andrews with some foreign dignitary or another, and there was an Army honor guard present. As the chopper hovered, one of the guard literally rolled out the red carpet, backing up toward the landing pad, his burnished steel blue helmet shining in the sun. The copter landed, and started to slow it's rotors down just as he reached the area of the door. Suddenly the hatch popped down, bonking the solider on the head and sending him sprawling under the chopper, and President Ford appeared in the doorway, waving at the crowd (of which I was a part), as a couple of medics raced towards their fallen comrade.

To his credit, when he realized what had happened, he hustled down the stairs (and didn't stumble) and went over to help the fellow he'd inadvertently sent flying get up, proving himself to be an altogether decent fellow, despite his lofty office. I'm sure there's one former soldier out there who still remembers being almost knocked out, and then helped up off the tarmac, by the President of the United States.

RIP, Jerry.

Gerald R. Ford, who picked up the pieces of Richard Nixon's scandal-shattered White House as the 38th and only unelected president in America's history, has died, his wife, Betty, said Tuesday. He was 93.

(link) [CNN.com]

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