YPG honors George H. W. Bush with gun salute
Following the federal governments day of memoriam for former President George H.W. Bush, the Yuma Proving Grounds opened the base Thursday to honor the life of the 41st President with a 21 gun salute.
Families, law enforcement and military personnel gathered to watch the firing of three M101A1 105 millimeter Howitzers, a vintage Korean war cannon that the military stopped using in the late 1980s.
Wayne Schilders is a veteran and the Chief Weapons Operation Division. He led the operations for today’s 21 gun salute that fired off one round per minute for 21 minutes.
“You know it is special when you can do something in memorial like this,” Schilders said. “The last one we did for a President was Ronald Reagon out here and I haven’t forgotten it and I am just glad we could do this for President Bush.”
The base also had another gun salute Thursday at 5, where it shot 50 rounds, one every five seconds.
Students from James D. Price Elementary were invited to the event. Principal, Jacque Acedo got to take part and fire one round from the cannons.
“I think it is just an amazing thing to be able to tell stories and to share our experiences and know that we get to talk about that history of what he has done and the kids now have that history and that experience,” Acedo said.
President George H. W. Bush visited YPG back in March of 1997. The former naval aviator conducted his first parachute jump at the base since jumping out of his Avenger Torpedo Bomber after being hit by enemy fire during WWII.
“It’s just great to be here, to be a part of this, it doesn’t happen all the time,” said Luis Feliciano, Sgt. 1st class. “It is important to me, I have been in the military 18 and a half years so I may never have this chance to render honors like this again.”
The 21 gun salute steamed from the year the U.S. Army was established in 1776. If you add up each number in 1776 it equals 21. The 50 gun salute honors each state in the U.S.
