As the youngest pilot in the Navy when he received his wings, Bush flew 58 combat missions during World War II. On one mission over the Pacific, as a torpedo bomber pilot, he was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft fire and was rescued from the water by a U. S. submarine. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery in action. During his term Bush faced a dramatically changing world, as the Cold War ended after 40 bitter years, the Communist empire broke up, and the Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union ceased to exist; and reformist President Mikhail Gorbachev, whom Bush had supported, resigned. He sent troops into Kuwait to help fight Iraq and Saddam Hussein in the First Persian Gulf War. http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgehwbush
​Presidential Years: 1989-1993