George HW Bush’s Socks Will Pay Tribute To His WWII Service As A Navy Pilot
George H.W. Bush will be remembered for many things, one of which is that he loved a good pair of socks. To honor his sense of style, the 41st president will be buried wearing socks that pay tribute to his service as a Navy pilot in World War II. Time reports that the socks feature a formation of planes flying up his legs.
President Bush always had a classy sense of style, but after he was forced to rely on the use of a wheelchair after being diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease called vascular parkinsonism in 2007, he expressed his flamboyant fashion via his socks.
“Brandishing colorful socks is simply his way of making the best of his mobility situation and still finding the joy in life,” daughter Doro Bush Koch wrote in a book about her father.
Throughout the years, he appeared in socks that made headlines. For instance, at the dedication for his son George W. Bush’s presidential library in 2013, Bush Sr. appeared in a pair of bright pink socks that stood out against the more sedate attire present. He also famously wore a pair of red socks with his own face on them to accept an award from the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation in Houston in December of 2013.
At First Lady Barbara Bush’s funeral in Houston earlier this year, he wore a pair of socks with books on them to honor her lifelong commitment to literacy.
For his 89th birthday, he wore a yellow, red, and blue pair of Superman socks — with a tiny cape on the back. He even honored his service dog Sully H.W. Bush with a pair of blue socks with Sully’s face on them while summering in Kennebunkport, Maine, this past August.
Those socks made an appearance on Sully’s Instagram page.
“My best friend has gotten some pretty rad socks, I’m rather a fan,” the post is captioned.
Some of Bush’s grandkids have even gotten in on the fun with their own lively socks.
Happiest of birthdays to my dear Gampy. Mila's little feet on Gamp's colorful socks..sweet socks to fill. #41s89th pic.twitter.com/25DX8FOqD9
— Jenna Bush Hager (@JennaBushHager) June 12, 2013
A Bush family spokesperson shared the news that the former naval aviator will be fittingly buried in yet another pair of stylish socks, saying that the 41st president would be “carried to his final rest wearing socks that pay tribute to his lifetime of service.”
The 41st President will be carried to his final rest wearing socks that pay tribute to his lifetime of service, starting as an 18 year-old naval aviator in war. That legacy is now being carried, in part, by the brave, selfless men and women aboard @CVN77_GHWB. #Remembering41 pic.twitter.com/OabtK756fO
— Jim McGrath (@jgm41) December 3, 2018
The former president enlisted in the Navy immediately after turning 18, graduating from high school at Philips Academy Andover. He received his officer’s commission and began serving at the age of 18, and was — at one point — the U.S. Navy’s youngest pilot, per the Independent.
Bush died at the age of 94 on November 30, 2018.
