"4 Presidents, 4 War Heroes" Topic

Many of the men who have served as president of the United States also served in the military -- 31, to be exact -- and some of them are considered war heroes for their courageous acts. These are just a few of their stories…

Military: link

These are the men I would consider to be war hero presidents:

1. George Washington
2. Andrew Jackson
3. William Henry Harrison
4. Zachary Taylor
5. U.S. Grant
6. Dwight Eisenhower

Not sure that Grant or Eisenhower were in the right place to qualify as heroes.

Grant definitely saw the elephant. Eisenhower may not have been a traditional "Stand in the breach waving a machine gun" hero but still did things few generals could do.

I believe Grant saw action during the Mexican War – or at least was fired upon.

Grant was in all the battles of the Mexican War but one (forget which). IIRC he was breveted at least once for his conduct.

Kennedy was considered a hero for the PT-109 incident, IIRC.

And then there is bone spurs guy

Once, heroes were men who went out and fought each other between the armies.

George W. Bush, youngest Naval pilot should be on that list. shot down and just barely escape being picked up by a japanese sub.(book: Flyboys).

Yes, I've seen a bit of film of Bush being picked up by a U.S. sub (someone on the sub happened to have a movie camera). It was on an episode of Wings, about the type of dive-bomber he was flying. (never could understand the Navy's "system" of designating airplane types)

Surely TR qualifies!

If Cincinnatus is acclaimed as a great Roman war hero, how can Grant be cast aside?

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Agree doc mcb, TR should be on this list.

George Bush flew an Avenger which was a torpedo bomber. It could also carry conventional bombs as well as depth charges.

Eisenhower never heard a shot fired in anger, and Bradley didn't until War II.

Grant defeated Lee and brought the Civil War to a successful conclusion.

His Vicksburg campaign was a strategic masterpiece.

He most certainly should be on the list.

All Kennedy accomplished was getting his boat sunk, by getting rammed by a Japanese destroyer. He did save some of his wounded, which means that he did his job after the fact.

No, I've little use for JFK as a president, but PT 109 was heroic.

Madison qualifies: During the war, Monroe saw action in battles in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He was wounded at the Battle of Trenton, New Jersey, in 1776, and was with General George Washington (1732-99) and his troops at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, during the difficult winter of 1777 to 1778.

You mention Madison and Monroe. Monroe did serve in the Continental Army, I'm not sure that Madison did. Do you have a source?

…PT 109 was heroic.

Getting your boat rammed and sunk is not heroic. Generally speaking, the circumstances of the sinking might actually be negligence.

Hindsight is 20/20.

"Getting your boat rammed and sunk is not heroic. Generally speaking, the circumstances of the sinking might actually be negligence."

Hold on to your seats! We agree. 😂

Never a fan of JFK. Always blamed him for the whole Cuban Missile Crises and botched "invasion" of Cuba, that was a disaster due to his cold feet.

Pt 109 was in the middle of the channel, with engines stopped. They were supposed to be looking for Japanese barges inshore. No lookout saw a destroyer comming at 25+ knots. My feeling was they were slacking off and sleeping. Not a big fan of JFK's war service.

Grant defeated Lee and brought the Civil War to a successful conclusion.

His Vicksburg campaign was a strategic masterpiece.

He most certainly should be on the list.

He certainly should be on the short list of great generals! As for "heroes," I thought we were talking about battlefield heroics (which usually happens well below the general-officer level).

Sorry, I meant Monroe throughout.

There are different kinds of courage. Lincoln is the epitome of the courage to lead in war and bear great burdens on behalf of his countrymen, Eisenhower as well.

True, that.

There are two kinds of courage-moral and physical. Lincoln displayed moral courage of a high order and Eisenhower did when he ordered to invasion to begin in June 1944.

Patton made the remark that when Bradley and Eisenhower got together, they both turned timid.