Valley family meets president

Bush greets locals during Elmendorf stop

November 18, 2005

CASEY RESSLER/Frontiersman Valley Life editor

While a number of Valley residents were afforded the opportunity to meet President George W. Bush during his stopover at Elmendorf Air Force Base Monday, one military family came away with larger than life photos.

Rebecca Hardy knew that she and her two children would get to see &#8220someone distinguished,” but she never imagined she'd meet the president and have her children's photos taken with the commander in chief.

&#8220My husband is deployed to Iraq, and we got a letter from our family support center saying someone distinguished was going to be here, and would we like tickets to see them. They didn't tell us who it was, but I kind of figured right away that it might be the president,” Hardy said.

Hardy and her two children, Paige and Max, showed up and were surprised to find out they had reserved seating tickets. But once they were ushered to the front of the crowd, they were met with disappointment initially.

&#8220There wasn't enough seats, so they told us to stand up on the rail where the president was speaking. It was surreal,” Hardy said.

After his speech, Bush shook hands with many in the crowd. When he got to Hardy, she politely asked him if she could take a photo with her son.

&#8220He posed bigger than life and told everyone to step back so I could get the photo,” she said. &#8220It as absolutely surreal. Then he took one with my daughter.”

The pictures showed up in Iraq shortly after the ceremony. CW4 John R. Hardy is a member of the 1/207th Aviation Regiment with the Army National Guard, and, after 27 years of service as a helicopter pilot, he was deployed to Iraq.

&#8220We never thought he would be deployed, so it's kind of hard for us right now,” Hardy explained. &#8220He left August 31st, and he's going to be there a year. He's really proud to be there.”

Hardy said her husband was surprised by the photos of his children with his commander, and he's been showing them around his unit.

&#8220He's real proud of them,” Hardy said.

Not having &#8220Dad” around for the holidays is going to be tough, Hardy said, so she is making plans to keep her family busy. They are meeting family for Thanksgiving, and traveling to Florida for Christmas.

&#8220It's going to be really, really hard not having him home for the holidays,” Hardy said. &#8220But we're going to have to make do.”