DEATH OF A PRESIDENT

President Gerald Ford died tonight at age 93. Born in 1913, he was one year younger than my late mother. He became president on Aug. 9th, 1974, after Richard Nixon’s resignation. At the time, I was stationed as Operations Officer at a mobile radar site at Sembach Air Force Station, Germany - soon after I left Vietnam.

The nation had suffered the Watergate scandal, and I remember the reassuring words of President Ford on Armed Forces Radio. He stated, “Our long national nightmare is over." Simple but appropriate words.