Letter: Three days in Marsaxlokk Bay with President Bush

Posted 12/7/18

To the editor:

I am sure many people have personal stories about President George H.W. Bush. Here is mine.

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Letter: Three days in Marsaxlokk Bay with President Bush

Posted

To the editor:

I am sure many people have personal stories about President George H.W. Bush. Here is mine. 

For the first three days in December 1989, I was aboard the Sixth Fleet flagship, USS Belknap, anchored in Marsaxlokk Bay in Malta as part of the President George H. W. Bush/Mikhail  Gorbachev summit.  

The president arrived in the Marine One helo for a short stay aboard the ship. A storm, one of the fiercest ever in the Mediterranean, quickly formed, so strong that it became impossible to safely get the president off the ship.

The president loved the Navy and took his physical capture in stride. For nearly three days, with beaming pride, he walked around the ship, talked to the crew and sat on the ship's bridge as he watched the crew fight the storm and keep the ship from dragging its anchor. He attended Sunday service and proclaimed the he had given the fleet weatherman a “presidential pardon" for the storm.

During that time, nearly every member of the crew got to experience some very personal time with their commander-in-chief. I happened to be near the gangway as the president departed the ship on the third day of his unplanned extended visit. In that chance encounter, that I will never forget, he extended his hand to me and I said, "Good luck, Mr. President.” 

As we shook hands, he looked me straight in the eye and replied, “And to you too, commander.”

Richard Talipsky

Captain, U.S. Navy (retired)

79 Cromwell Drive

Portsmouth

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