TIME Magazine Asia December 17, 2018 Back Issue

THE BUSH LEGACY
On the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, George Herbert Walker Bush—known as “Poppy” to family and friends—was walking on the campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., when word came of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was 17½ years old. He longed to defend his country — right then, right away, no waiting around. Told he would have to turn 18 before he could enlist in the U.S. armed forces, a determined Bush explored the option of going to Canada to join the Royal Air Force. He was that ready to risk everything for a cause larger than himself. And so there it all was, even in the beginning: a boundless energy and a hunger to serve; a thirst for adventure and a love of country. Bush served his country in sundry
capacities—including a notable term as President of the United States in an era of what he called “a fascinating time of change in the world itself.”