
DATE: Tuesday, April 1, 1997                TAG: 9704010229

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL

                                            LENGTH:   59 lines

GEORGE BUSH TRIES A TURN AT BEING WALTER MITTY

Ever I jump out of an airplane, my hope would be to have such an escort of experts as attended former President George Bush when he parachuted at 12,500 feet last week. And, upon reaching the ground, to be met by a loved one - as he was by Barbara Bush - or by somebody, at any rate, who knew me, even if it was only the newspaper carrier waiting to collect $13.50.

As to what impelled Bush to jump, one surmises he may be going through a belated Walter Mitty phase of life. It is not uncommon.

Instead of merely daydreaming of being a daredevil, as Mitty did in James Thurber's short story, ``The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,'' Bush is acting out his fantasy, bravely, right there in the open for all to see.

Bringing oneself to perform in public would take almost as much nerve as doing the deed itself.

Hedged about with precautions - professional jumpers gave him a refresher course, The New York Times reported; two held his harness and guided him - it was about as adventurous as pushing the down button on an elevator.

If you're an ex-president, you can indulge in such escapism at 72 without a family member calling you sophomoric or a neighbor thrusting you into the medical section of a retirement village.

Going his humdrum way, Thurber's Mitty imagined himself, among other scenarios, as a World War I squadron leader who, when his crew was exhausted, set out to fly a bomber by himself.

In another fugue he cast himself as a famed consulting physician. When a complex machine failed during an operation, Mitty repaired it with a fountain pen and then took over and did the surgery.

During World War II, Japanese gunners knocked Bush's torpedo bomber out of the Pacific sky, forcing him to bail out and drop to earth with a damaged chute. A submarine picked him up. Two crew members did not survive. As the former president floated earthward last week, those two comrades must have come to mind.

Well, having endured tests in the Oval Office, such as Bush's dealing with Desert Storm, former presidents ought to be allowed to dream and to dabble, if they choose, in off-the-wall exploits.

Theodore Roosevelt traipsed to Africa and, well protected and armed with a blunderbuss rivaling a courthouse cannon, brought down an innocent elephant.

His feat was about as risky as shooting a cow across a pasture fence - as, for that matter, is most big-game hunting, presidential or plebian.

But then Roosevelt added 125 million acres to the national forests and founded five national parks, all of which atoned, in part, for the slaughter of the elephant.

Most of us, now and then, are Mitties, live or imagined. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS/file

The former president jumped 12,500 feet from an airplane over the

Arizona desert last week. He's shown here about to land. As a Navy

pilot during World War II, Bush had had to bail out of a damaged

aircraft. For this jump, though, he took a refresher course from

professional jumpers, The New York Times reported; two held his

harness and guided him down.