Page:GHW Bush Letter to General Greene.png



Dear General Greene:

I was surprised and very, very pleased to receive your letter of August 27th.

That a Major General in the Air Force would take interest in a brand new Air Force trainee made a big impression on me.

Naturally, as a father I was please to read your comments about George. He is anxiously looking forward to going to flight school and with parental pride, I do have the feeling that he will be a gung ho member of the U.S. Air Force. I think that he will make a good pilot as well.

When he came home, he was full of the training that he had received, and particularly enthusiastic about the dedication of the men he met. I'll never forget the way he kept us up that first night telling about Sgt. Henry Onacki, who apparently was his first instructor. It did my my heart good to hear him describe Onacki's love of country and dedication to the Air Force. I know that the Air Force through men like Sgt. Onacki helped awaken the very best instincts in my son. In this day and age when it has become a little bit fashionable to be critical of the military, I was delighted to see him return to our house with a real pride in the service and with a great respect for the leaders that he had encountered at Lackland.

General Greene, this is a personal letter but I did want to write to you from the heart and thank you for what you, Sgt. Onacki and the others are doing, and obviously doing well.

Yours very truly,



George Bush, M.C.

Major General G.D. Greene, Jr., USAF Commander Headquarters Lackland Military Training Center (ATC) Lackland Air Force Base, Texas 78236