I would like to add that I wasn't exactly correct in what I said above. Aging neurons, or perhaps faulty information decades ago.
As a student at Andover, he tried to enlist, and planned to drop out. He was told that he couldn't enlist until he was 18. He briefly considered joining the Royal Canadian Air Force, since they would take pilots at 17. So, he joined on his 18th birthday. The very first day that he could.
This is part of what impressed me about the man, he was at the finest prep school, had been accepted to Yale, you might call it "privilege" these days, but he dropped it all to go join the fight.
And he joined the fight, flying off carriers in combat. When his airplane was hit, and on fire, he pressed on to the target, released his bombs, hit his target and then bailed out.
When he graduated Yale, he could've followed his dad on Wall Street, instead, he started at the bottom in the oil industry, in Midland Texas, as a salesperson.
I admire his desire to serve, and his desire to make his own way, instead of taking advantage of the easy path that was before him.
