"On 9/11, he was 69, retired seven years. His family told him he was too old to report for duty. But he knew the father of a missing fireman, and three days after the attacks, he grabbed his old helmet and gear, drove into the city and talked his way into Ground Zero.
Then he heard the president was coming. For a look, he stood up on a fire engine that had been pulled from the wreckage. A man (Bush political adviser Karl Rove, Beckwith later learned) came over and asked him to jump up and down to see whether the firetruck was stable. Satisfied, he dusted off a spot next to Beckwith and told him a VIP was going to stand there; when he got up, Beckwith should get down. The VIP was Bush.
The fireman helped the president up and began to step down as instructed. But Bush said, "Where you goin'? ... Stay here."
Beckwith continues to support Bush and the president's pursuit of the war on terrorism: "I like the guy — he's a real man. ... I think he's doing a good job."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-09-07-sept11-then-now_x.htm:puke:
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