Journeying to an emotional anniversary at Pearl Harbor, President Bush said Friday that Americans should observe the healing of peace as well as the memory of the Japanese attack that began a war, calling it "a turning point, really, in terms of peace and freedom."
"For me, it will be emotional because, like a lot of veterans out there, I lost friends, my roommates, two roommates, killed in action off our carrier," said Bush, a World War II Navy pilot, before flying to Hawaii for 50th anniversary observances Saturday.The president said he holds no rancor toward Japan.
He said he would "approach it as a day of healing, appropriately honoring those who died at Pearl Harbor and those who were killed in World War II after Pearl Harbor."
Campaigning on Sept. 7, 1988, Bush had called that the 47th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, correcting it to Dec. 7 after an unsettled murmur in his audience of veterans alerted him to the slip.
Bush, 17 when the Japanese attacked, has said he decided that day to enlist as soon as he could. He did, on his 18th birthday.
He flew 58 combat missions and made more than 100 carrier landings. He was shot down Sept. 1, 1944, and rescued from the Pacific by a U.S. submarine.
Bush said his Pearl Harbor addresses - three are scheduled on Saturday - will "focus on the fact that yesterday's enemies in Europe and in Asia are now our friends" and were offered U.S. assistance as soon as the war ended.
He also said his message will include an expression of regret at the internment of Japanese-Americans during the war.