Napan greets the president

By BILL KISLIUK
Register Editor

Few Napans got to see President George W. Bush on Thursday. Gary Hall shook his hand.

Hall, 43, a Vintage High School graduate, Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and volunteer with the Suisun Fire Department, had the honor of being present when Air Force One landed at Travis Air Force Base Thursday afternoon.

Hall was tapped for the special occasion both for his work as an in-flight refuel operator for the 6th Air Refueling Squadron and for some recent heroics with Suisun’s volunteer fire department.

On June 1, Hall helped save the life of a toddler found floating in a residential pool, and on Fathers Day helped with the emergency delivery of a baby, even cutting the umbilical cord for the mother.

Then came Thursday.

The president, Hall said, “got off the aircraft. He greeted some VIPs on the base — the base commander, wing commander and some other people ... He came over and I got to salute my commander-in-chief, which very few people get to do.”

Hall told the president, “Welcome to California.”

The president, he said, thanked Hall for his service to the country, then he moved.

“He had other things to do,” said Hall, who noted the president also greeted a woman — whom Hall did not know — who like Hall appeared to have been chosen because of her community service.

Hall grew up in Napa and graduated from Vintage High School. He was a city of Napa Fire Explorer as a teen, and was a reserve firefighter for the city of Napa before entering the Air Force in 1986.

He, his wife Peggy and daughter Nicole live in Suisun. He plans to retire from the service in February.

So, what was it like to meet the president?

“It was cool,” said Hall. “Like I said, as a member of the military, he’s my commander in chief. Not many people in the military get to be personally recognized. It’s special I got to do it.”

Hall appreciated the honor, but insisted others are just as deserving. Acknowledging the other volunteers in the Suisun Fire Department, he said, “There are an awful lot of people who do the same thing I do.”

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