Ralph E. Adams; George Bush’s WWII Rescuer

Ralph E. Adams, 76, a World War II submariner who helped rescue a downed Navy flier destined to become President of the United States. Adams, an electronics technician and navigator, was part of a rescue party sent from the submarine Finback on Sept. 4, 1944, to pick up then-Lt. (j.g.) George Bush and four other downed Navy airmen in a rubber raft bobbing about 70 miles off Osaka, Japan. Bush, who had been piloting a single-engine bomber that was shot down by the Japanese, and one of his crewmen were in the raft along with three other fliers from another downed plane. Adams, a native of Crete, Ill., served in the Navy from 1929 until 1933. He rejoined in 1940 and retired as a chief petty officer in 1970. In Honolulu of cancer on April 21.