Meeting The President

In 1960 when I was in The U.S.Army stationed in South Korea, we got news that President Eisenhower was coming to visit South Korea. If I remember correctly, he was to arrive on a Sunday afternoon at the Soul South Korea Airport.

Anyway, myself and some of my buddies made plans to go to the airport to see if we could just get to see Airforce One and maybe just see the President from afar. We had no idea we would get to meet him in person.

When Airforce One landed and came to a stop, 10 or 12 people got off and in about five minutes we saw the door open. About this time we heard a band we had not seen start playing Hail to the Chief and that is when we saw President Eisenhower appear in the door.

When he came down the steps and met all the people there to greet him, he looked over and saw this group of about 75 to 100 servicemen standing behind a roped off area. He started walking over to where we were and when he got to us just reached out and started shaking hands with us and telling each one how proud he was to have us serving our country and wanted to say thank you for your service in the Armed Forces of The United States.

This is how I met President Eisenhower.

Also it reminds me when I see a man or woman that is serving in any of the Armed Forces to stop and say THANK YOU for their service.

January 21, 2011
Howard Richardson