PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD
July 14,1913 - December 26, 2006
SAVE THE SHIP ,THEN SAVE THE SHIP OF STATE
Grand Rapids MI
San Diego Union Tribune,Sunday,January 7,2007

An absence of glibness and his decency
were political assets

By Henry A. Kissinger

According to an ancient tradition. God preserves humanity despite its many transgressions
because at any one period there exist 10 just individuals who, without being aware of their
role, redeem mankind.
Gerald Ford was such a man, Propelled into the presidency by a sequence of unpredictable
events, he had an impact so profound it's rightly to be considered providential.
Unassuming and without guile, Gerald Ford undertook to restore confidence of Americans in
their political institutions and purposes. Never having aspired to national office, he was not
consumed by driving ambition. In his understated way, he did his duty as a leader, not as a
performer playing to  the  gallery.
Gerald Ford had the virtues of small town America: sincerity, serenity,  and integrity. As it
turned out, the absence of glibness and his artless decency became a political asset, fostering an
unusual closeness to leaders around the world, which continued long after he left office.
In recent days, the deserved commentary on Gerald  Ford's character has sometimes obscured
how sweeping and lasting were his achievements.
Gerald Ford's prudence and common sense kept ethnic conflicts in Cyprus nd Lebanon from
spiraling into regional war.
He presided over the final agony of Indochina with dignity and wisdom.
In the Middle East, his persistence produced sthe first political agreement between Israel and
Egypt.
He helped shape the act of the Helsinki European Security Conference, which established an
internationally recognized standard for human rights, now generally accepted as having
hastened the collapse of the former Soviet empire.
He sparked the initiative to bring majority rule to southern Africa, a policy that was a major
factor in ending colonialism there.
In his presidency, the International Energy Agency was established, which still forces
cooperation among oil consuming nations.
Gerald Ford was one of the founders of the continuing annual economic summit among the
industrial democracies.
Throughout his 29 months in office, he persisted in conducting negotiations with our principal
adversary over the reduction and control of nuclear arms.
Gerald Ford was always driven by his concern for human values. He stumped me in his fifth
day in office when he used the first call made by the Soviet ambassador to intervene on behalf
of a Lithuanian seaman who four years earlier had in a horrible bungle been turned over to
Soviet authorities after seeking asylum in America. Against all diplomatic precedent and I must
say, against the advice of all experts, Gerald Ford requested that the seaman, a Soviet citizen in
a Soviet jail, not only be released but be turned over to American custody. Even more
amazingly, his request was granted.   
Throughout the final ordeal of Indochina, Gerald Ford focused on Ameria's duty to rescue the
maximum number of those who had relied on us. The extraction of 150,000 refugees was the
consequence. And typically Gerald Ford saw it as his duty to visit one of the refugee camps
long after public attention had moved elsewhere.
Gerald Ford summed up his concern for human values at the European Security Conference,
When looking directly at Leonid Brezhnev he proclaimed America's deep devotion to human
rights and individual freedoms. "To my country," he said,"they're not cliches or empty phrases."
Historians will debate for a long time over which president contributed most to victory in the
Cold War. Few will dispute that the Cold War could not have been won had not Gerald Ford
emerged at a tragic period to restore equilibrium to America and confidence in its international
role.
Sustained by his beloved wife, Betty,  and with the children to whom he was devoted, Gerald
Ford left the presidency with no regrets, no second guessing, no obsessive pursuit of his place
in history.
For his friends he leaves an aching void. Having known Jerry Ford and having worked  with
him will be our badge of honor for the rest of our lives.
Early in his administration, Gerald Ford said to me: I get mad as hell, but I don't show it, when
I don't do as well as I should. If you don't strive for the best, you will never make it." We are
here to bear witness that Jerry Ford always did his best, and that his best proved essential to
renew our society and restore hope to the world.

LT.(j.g.) GERALD R. FORD,USN                                     
 SAVES THE USS MONTEREY
Bob Drury. New York Times


For Americans under a certain age,Gerald Ford is probably remembered for comedian Chevy
Chase's stumbling ,bumbling impersonations of him on "Saturday Night Live but Gerald Ford
was the finest athletic President to ever inhabit the white house and there is a different label we
can attach to President Ford,one that has been overlooked for62 years: war hero.
In 1944, Lt.j.g. Jerry Ford- a lawyer from Grand Rapids,Mich.,blond and broad shouldered,
with the lantern jaw of a young Johnny Weissmuller- was a 31 year old gunnery officer on the
aircraft carrier Monterey. The Monterey was a member of Adm. William Halsey's Third Fleet,
and in mid-December, Lieutenant Ford was sailing off the Philippines as Admiral Halsey's
ships provided air cover for the second phase of General Douglas MacArthur's "I shall return"
Philippine invasions.
The Monterey had earned more than half a dozen battle stars for action in World War II; during
the battle of Leyte Gulf, Lieutenant Ford, in charge of a 40-millimeter antiarcraft gun crew on
the fantail deck had watched as a torpedo narrowly missed the Monterey and tore out the hull of
the nearby cruiser Canberra. Two months later, in the early morning hours of December 18, the
Japanese were the least of Monterey's worries, as it found itself trapped in a vicious Pacific
cyclone later designated Typhoon Cobra.

Lieutenant Ford had served as the Monterey's officer of the deck on the ship's midnight
to-4-a.m. watch, and had witnessed the lashing rains and 60 knot winds whip the ocean into
waves that resembled liquid mountain ranges.  The waves reeled in from starboard, gigantic
sets of  dark water that appeared to defy gravity, cresting at 40 to 70 feet.  In his 18 months at
sea, Lieutenant Ford had never seen waves so big. As breakers crashed over the carrier's
wheelhouse, he could just barely make out the distress whistles sounding about him-the deep
beeps of the battleships, the shrill whoops of the destroyers.

After his watch Lieutenant Ford had strapped himself into his bunk below decks, and it seemed
that his head had barely hit the pillow when the Monterey's skipper, Capt. Stuart Ingersoll,
sounded general quarters, calling all hands to their stations. Lieutenant Ford bolted upright in
his dark sea cabin. He thought he smelled smoke amidships. Racing through a rolling
companionway dimly lighted  by red battle lights, he reached the outside skipper's ladder
leading to the pilothouse and began to climb. At that precise moment, a 70 foot wave broke
over the Monterey. The carrier pitched 25 degrees to port, and Lieutenant Ford was knocked
flat on his back. He began skimming the flight deck as if he were on a toboggan.

Just as he was about to be hurled overboard, Lieutenant Ford managed to slow his slide, twist
like an acrobat, and fling himself onto the catwalk. He got to his knees, made his way below
deck, and started back up again.
By the time he reached the Monterey's pilothouse, the fighter planes in its hangar deck had
begun slamming into one another as well as the bulkheads- "like pinbballs," Mr Ford recalled
60 years later- and the collisions had ignited their gas tanks. The hangar deck of the Monterey
had become a cauldron of aircraft fuel, and because of a quirk in its construction,the flames
from the burning aircraft were sucked into the air intakes of the lower decks. As fire broke out
below, Lieutennt Ford remembered the smoke he smelled when he'd bolted from his bunk.

Admiral Halsey had ordered Captain Ingersoll to abbandon ship, and the  Monterey was ablaze
from stem to stern as Lieutenant Ford stood near the helm, awaiting his orders. "We can fix
this,"Captain Ingersoll said, and with a nod from his skipper, Lieutenant Ford donned a gas
mask and led a fire brigade below.

Aircraft-gas tanks exploded as hose handlers slid across the burning decks. Into this furnace
Lieutenant  Ford led his men, his first order of business to carry out the dead and injured. Five
hours later he and his team emerged burned and exhausted, but they had put out the fire.

The destroyers; Hull,Spence and Monaghan were eventually capsized by Typhoon Cobra, a
dozen more ships were seriously damaged, more than 150 planes were destroyed, and 793  men
lost their lives. It was the Navy's  worst "defeat" of World War II. But the Monterey and nearly
all of its men survived to take part in the battle of Okinawa, and the future president ended his
Navy stint in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant commander.

Like his fellow World War II veterans, Mr Ford returned home and resumed his life, rarely
speaking publicly about his heroism. But in contrast to the public's image of him as a clumsy
nonentity , as described by the liberal media, Mr Ford was a man whose grace and bravery
under pressure saved his ship and hundreds of men on it.
.His skill on the ski slopes is legend.

An inspection of Google and Yahoo awards do not show an award to President Gerald R. Ford
for his exemplary action on the Monterey (Info Secretary of Medal and Awards in the Office of
the Secretary of the Navy).

PRESIDENT FORD
PARDONS "TOKYO ROSE"

Iva Ikuko Toguri was born in Los Angeles on July 4,1916, a daughter of Japanese immigrants
who owned a grocery store.She graduated from the University of California Los Angeles in
1940 with a degree in zoology,hoping to become a physician.
Iva was a bright child;cheerful and outgoing,with a stubborn streak that can be both an asset and
a liability.  She grew up like your average american girl,attending public schools and joining
the girl scouts. She played tennis and piano and had a crush on Jimmy Stewart.
Iva Toguri never once betrayed the United States, and was only eligible to be tried for treason
because she refused to renounce her American Citizenship.She had traveled to Japan to visit an
ailing Aunt and was trapped there when the war began.She was forced to work in the offices of
Radio Tokyo as a secretary where she managed to smuggle food and comfort items to POW's.
She returned to the U.S. after the war and was immediately incarcerated without bond and
eventually tried,found guilty of some trumped up charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The two persons whose testimony had convicted Iva eventually admitted they had lied and
fo;llowing  Iva's interview with Morley Safer on "60 minutes"in 1976,pressure began to mount
for a full and unconditional pardon.( She had served 7 and1/2 years,custody and prison)
On his last day in office in January of 1977,President Gerald Ford granted that pardon,
declaring that she had been wrongfully convicted and restoring the citizenship that she had held
so dear. She is ,to this day, the only person in American history convicted of treason to be
pardoned. The title; "Tokyo Rose" was not for any one person, the Pacific "G.I's loved the
broadcast as they broadcast good American music and the Japanese radio  routine was so
ridiculous as to be entertaining and the G I 's titled it:" Tokyo Rose"

Iva Toquri D'Aquino passed away in 2006 at the age of 90,"God rest her soul"


PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD SAVES THE SHIP OF      
  STATE WITH A PARDON OF PRESIDENT NIXON.

The New York Times OP-ED Thursday,December 28,2006
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE

By Barry Werth, Author of:
"31 Days: The Crisis that Gave Us the Government We Have Today."


Norhhampton,Mass.
America got its first real impression of Gerald Ford on the steamy August morning 33 years ago
when he took office as president, and most people instantly liked what they saw. Mr. Ford
stood in the driveway of his suburban split-level house,  hours before assuming a post he never
sought and hoped to avoid having to fill. One of the questions he took was about Harry
Truman's comment when he had the office abruptly thrust upon him . Mr Truman said he felt that
the moon, the stars and the planets had fallen on him.
"I think that's an  apt description," Mr Ford said. "I can tell you better this afternoon after it
actually happens."
Mrs Ford hoped you would get out of politics. What is her response?'
"Well,"  Mr Ford shook his head. "She's just doing her best and we will have to see about the
other."
Like Mr Truman, President Ford was a seemingly ordinary Midwesterner, a career politician
and party man dogged by low expectations and doubts  -  suitable "standby equipment," as
Nelson Rockfeller called  the vice presidency, but no ones idea of a commanding leader.
Still worse, he came into office not as Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson had, inheriting the
mantle of a popular fallen leader and with a supportive congress, but replacing a disgraced and
reviled figure and facing Democratic majorities  in both houses, as well as right-wing
rumblings about Richard Nixon's foreign and economic  policies. By the time Mr Nixon
departed, Mr Ford wrote, " he had no mantle left."
Of necessity, President Ford devised a new one - "the mantle of the presidential center," The
Washington Post's Lou Cannon called it. For a month, Mr Ford set out not just to heal Americas
divisions but to expunge them. He moved hard to the center, determined, he wrote, "to leave the
right sputtering."
He chose Nelson Rockefeller as his vice president (over George H.W.Bush and Donald
Rumsfeld, who both campaigned vigorously for the job). met with blacks and women,proposed
partial amnesty for Vietnam-era draft resisters, and hewed to Mr Nixon's realism in foreign
affairs. The  press corps extended him the benefit of the doubt, finding him refreshingly open
and honest after Mr Nixon, and his approval ratings soared - literally, from nowhere - to 70
percent.
Then, one Sunday morning a month after moving into the oval office, he pardoned Mr Nixon
before the former president was indicted. With a pen stroke, a very different Ford presidency
emerged.  Though he said he was forgiving Mr Nixon because the televised spectacle of a
former president in the criminal dock would stir up "ugly passions," the pardon instantly and
inevitably looked like the last cynical act of Watergate cover-up - Mr. Nixon's hand chosen
successor giving him a free pass.
The pardon was a political disaster for President Ford. His approval ratings plummeted,
inviting attacks from not only the Democrats, but also the Republican right, which rallied
around Ronald Reagan.
President Ford spent the remainder of his presidency trying to stave off the intraparty challenge
that had suddenly emerged. Two weeks after the pardon, he appointed Mr. Rumsfield as White
House chief of staff and Mr. Rumsfield chose Dick Cheney,then 33, as his deputy. A year later,
President Ford fired Defense Secretary James Schlesinger and replaced him with Rumsfield,
put Mr Bush in charge of the C.I.A.,forced Nelson Rockefeller off the 1976 ticket, and
promoted Mr. Cheney to chief of staff. Unlike those he elevated to power, President Ford
accepted accountability and showed uncommon political and personal courage. He announced
his amnesty plan before the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign  Wars - the toughest
audience he could find - telling reporters it would be "a little cowardice" to roll it out before a
hand picked crowd.
.
When it came out that Gen. Alexander Haig, President Nixon's chief of staff, went to Mr Ford a
week before the president's resignation proposing that he pardon him, Mr Ford volunteered to
testify  before Congress, where he swore under oath, "There was no deal, period, under no
circunstances." Suspicion stilll lingers that President Ford telegraphed Mr Nixon that he
wouldn't face jail - after the pardon discussion, acording to a close Ford aide, he told General
Haig to "do whatever they decided to do"to convince Mr. Nixon to step down. But he never
complained publicly about his reversal of fortune in office.

President Ford believed that by pardoning  Mr. Nixon,he was putting watergate and the
imperial presidency in the past. But by sacrificing his popularity, he also lost much of his
mandate to address the aftermath of Watergate and Vietnam with moderation,bipartisianship
and national humility - the very goals he set out to achieve. Forced to the right, his
administration spawned many of the core attitudes and key players of the George W. Bush
White House.
Mr Ford didn't struggle for the presidency, didn't win it, but he was determined not to fail at it.
His candor and decency helped restore America's faith in its institutions. It's regrettable that the
pardon - shadowed by ambiguity, politically catastrophic, and with a long tail extending to  the
heart of today's White House - weighs so heavily on his legacy.

PRESIDENT FORD SIGNS A LETTER OF STRONG        
SUPPORT FOR THE AWARD OF A MEDAL OF HONOR
FOR LCDR HENRY L. PLAGE,COMMANDING OFFICER
                     USS TABBERER DE 418

On February 2,2005 I wrote to President  Gerald  R. Ford giving an account of LCDR Henry L.
Plage's heroic actions saving the lives of 55 sailors from drowning and death due to attacks by
sharks and barracuda during "Typhoon Cobra"as recounted on this web-site.
I provided a complete file as an enclosure (1) of my efforts, and correspondence with the
President,CNO,Sec'y of the Navy and Sec'y of Medals and Awards in the office of the Sec'y of
he Navy since August 2001 with the final result of a finding by Sec'y  Medals and Awards as
stated in his letter 1650,Ser NDBDM/1207 dated: 08 December,2004 as follows:"Your
description of LCDR Plage's rescue of 55 survivors of Typhoon Cobra while he was he
Commanding Officer of USS TABBERER undeniably conveys his performance as exemplary.
Unfortunately, however, he cannot be considered for award of the Medal of Honor.  This is due
ENTIRELY,(my emphasis added) to the fact that his heroic actions did not occur during
combat.  While his performance was clearly extraordinary, award of the Medal of Honor is
reserved exclusively for actions occurring during conflict with an enemy"
.
I replied to the foregoing letter on January 9,2005 as follows: In accordance with enclosure
(1)" Section 6241:Medal of Honor for Navy and Marines",Captain Plage's heroic actions did
occur during combat against the Japanese in actions supporting the invasion of he Philippines.
The USS Tabberer (DE 418) was a unit of the Third Fleet scheduled for air support of the
invasion on December 19,1944. Which qualifies Capain Plage for the Medal of Honor under
paragraph (1) "while engaged in an action against an enemy of he United States", and under
paragraph (2) ,"while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing
foreign force". While a member of the naval service who distinguished himself conspicuosly by
gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life and the safety of his command above and beyond
the call of duty.

Captain Plage was requested to abandon his search and rescue operations three times by CTF3
and each time he refused as he continued rescuing 41 sailors and after 39 hours he convinced
CTF3 to institute a search and he then proceeded to rendezvous as ordered and on his way he
rescued another 14 sailors from the USS Spence for a total of 55. He always felt he would have
rescued more if he had been allowed to stay on his search operations. His ship was badly
battered and damaged and he and his crew risked life and limb to perform difficult rescues. A
true example of intrepidity. (webster: fearless).

In my letter to President Ford I stated:"The purpose of this letter is to request your letter of
support,forwarded to the Secretary,Board of Decorations and Medals, confirming that during
"Typhoon Cobra" the USS Monterey and USS Tabberer were engaged in an action against an
enemy of the United States, paragraph (1)Navy MOH, and while engaged in military operations
involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, paragraph (2) Navy MOH,thereby
establishing eligibility of LCDR Henry L. Plage for the Medal of  Honor.

On March 1,2005, I received a letter from President Gerald R. Ford as follows:

Dear Mr Secretary:

I write in support of enclosure (1) as being true and factual in accordance with my own
personal experience as a member of he United States Third Fleet on the USS Monterey as set
forth in reference (a) of enclosure (1).  

A copy of  the magazine:" Mens Journal" is enclosed for your review. It is an excellent
testament of Typhoon Cobra in 1944.

I offer my strong support for a favorable decision on behalf of  LCDR Henry L Plage for award
of the Medal of Honor.

Sincerely,


Signed: Gerald R. Ford


to:

L.S. Priest, Secretary
Board of Decorations and Medals
Department of the Navy
Office of the Secretary
1000 Navy Pentagon
Washington D.C.

President Ford's letter was mailed in March 2005.
It was mailed again,January 24,2006. A request for a reply was made,no reply received.
It was mailed again October 24,2006. A request for a reply was made,no reply received.
I will try again.

Mr Ford's secretary; Judi Breakenridge Risk, advised me that Mr Ford used to request of  her
from time to time "how are we doing on typhoon cobra and the medal of honor". I want to
complete my vendetta for a "badge of honor",acquired by working with Gerald.R Ford.

LCDR Archie G. DeRyckere,USN (Ret).,saved from death by drowning and attacks by sharks
and barracuda, along with 54 other sailors by : LCDR Henry L. Plage,USN
(Deceased),Commanding Officer USS Tabberer (DE 418) and his brave and valiant crew


DONATIONS TO ADMIRAL NIMITZ FOUNDATION
FOR  A MEMORIAL PLAQUE FOR PRESIDENT FORD

First Lady,Betty Ford,and Family.
Frank and Tea Dysthe II & Family,Chino Hills,CA
Robert and Eloise Coyne,Lehigh Acres,FL                     
Harry and Son ; Hal Coyle,Ayer,MA
Judi Breakenridge Risk,Secretary,President Ford.
Bob Drury and Tom Clavin,Authors: Halsey's Typhoon.
Lynne Nadeau, Irvine,CA
Mathew H. and Leslie Davis,Erlanger,KY.     
Albert Noe,Fairbanks AK.
Tom & Patricia Barrett, Jr.& Family,Weldon CA.
Captain James and Mary McCormick, USN(Ret).Mashpee,MA
Felix G. Smart,,nephew of F.G. Smart jr.,Altheimer,AR.
Harriet Parkes Jonsson & Kristin Porotsky,Cincinnati,OH.

          This memorial was dedicated by :

LCDR & Mrs. Archie G. De Ryckere, USN (Ret.) & Family in
appreciation for President Ford's strong support to achieve the
Medal of Honor for LCDR Henry L. Plage,USN &  his
performance as commanding officer of the USS  Tabberer, DE
418, saving the lives of 55 sailors in Typhoon Cobra. It is also
to recognize President Ford's valorous performance as he saved
the carrier, USS Monterey, CVL 26 from the fires caused by
Typhoon Cobra.













































































































































































BOOK: "HALSEY'S TYPHOON"by:BOB DRURY & TOM CLAVIN

For a complete read on "Typhoon Cobra" ,

obtain a copy of the above book at Barnes&Noble bookstores or Amazon internet books


GERALD R.
FORD MEMORIAL
FOUNDATION
GRAND RAPIDS
MI








GERALD R
FORD
PARDONS
RICHARD NIXON









GERALD R.
FORD
PROMOTES
HELSINKI
ACCORDS


GRACE
EPISCOPAL
CHURCH, GRAND
RAPIDS MI








THE BLESSING
OF PRESIDENT
FORD AT THE
ALTAR.








LEFT TO RIGHT
SUSAN,MICHAEL,
BETTY,JACK, &
STEVEN FORD
AT PRAYER FOR
THE PRESIDENT