Serving in the United States military automatically places you in company with fellow veterans regardless of years or rank or branch of service.

There’s a common bond, a fellowship, an esprit de corps among those who have worn a uniform in defense of the United States of America in peace and wartime. For some, lifelong friendships are formed, friendships that remain strong long after the events that formed that bond. For even fewer still, those who have attained the highest honor our country can give share something even rarer. Two Medal of Honor recipients found a way to transcend rank and branch of service to become close friends.

Over the summer, approximately 100 people attended the re-dedication of a memorial dedicated to Tumwater-native, longtime South Bend resident and World War II Medal of Honor recipient Bob Bush.

Bush became the youngest sailor in WWII to earn the Medal of Honor for his actions as a hospital apprentice first class with the 3rd Platoon, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 5th U.S. Marines, on May 2, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, Japan. President Harry S. Truman presented the medal to Bush at the White House on Oct. 5, 1945.

Fellow Medal of Honor recipient, Air Force Gen. James “Jimmy” Doolittle, on the other hand, led the first aerial attack on the Japanese mainland and became a famed World War II air commander.

Doolittle volunteered to lead the attack of 16 B-25 medium bombers from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Hornet (CV-8), with targets in Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka and Nagoya. Doolittle received the Medal of Honor, presented to him by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, for planning and leading this successful operation.

He was promoted to brigadier general as a result, and then was assigned to the 8th Air Force and went on to become the commanding general of the 12th Air Force in North Africa. He was promoted to major general in November and in March 1943 became commanding general of the North African Strategic Air Forces.

He took command of the 15th Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater in November and from January 1944 to September 1945 he commanded the 8th Air Force in Europe and the Pacific, until war’s end, as a lieutenant general, the promotion date being March 13, 1944.

Years later, Bush and Doolittle met and became friends and fishing buddies.

Barb Aue wrote for the South Beach Bulletin that on Aug. 9, 1941, a charter was granted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States for the establishment of South Beach VFW Post No. 3057. Ruth McCausland’s book, Washington’s Westport, detailed how Doolittle came to join VFW Post No. 3057.

In August of 1974, the Altar Society of St. Paul Catholic Church sponsored a dinner for Medal of Honor recipients, 14 of whom attended. Included among the dignitaries was Medal of Honor recipient Bob Bush, who owned the then-Bayview Lumber at the Westport “Y” and General James H. Doolittle.

At the dinner, it was discovered that the much-decorated general was not a VFW member. He was invited to join the local Post and graciously accepted. Doolittle made many trips to Westport to fish for salmon in the following years.

After Doolittle’s death in (1993), the national headquarters of the VFW gave permission for the Westport Post to be renamed General James H. Doolittle South Beach Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 3057. The ceremony was attended by Mr. and Mrs. John Doolittle, son and daughter-in-law of the General, as well as Bush and several other Medal of Honor recipients.

This connection to Westport and Western Washington for not just one, but two, Medal of Honor recipients is rare indeed.

U.S. Air Force General James “Jimmy” Doolittle.

The Medal of Honor

This summer approximately 100 people attended the re-dedication of a memorial dedicated to Tumwater-native, longtime South Bend resident and World War II Medal of Honor recipient Bob Bush. American Legion Post 150 presented the colors.