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President to visit Fort Lewis

Jun-14-2004 » Filed Under: General Military

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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

Fort Lewis, especially lately, has become a regular stop for high-level VIPs.

The secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of staff of the Army, ranking members of Congress - they've all passed through during the past couple of years to check on the progress of the Stryker brigades.

The commander in chief? He doesn't drop by very often. But President Bush plans to do so later this week.

It's been 62 years since the last-known visit by a U.S. president to Fort Lewis.

Franklin D. Roosevelt made a secret trip to the post in September 1942, part of a two-week swing through Puget Sound to check on the region's military installations and war factories.

Just 10 months into this country's involvement in World War II and with fresh concern about a Japanese strike on the West Coast, the White House persuaded area newspapers to withhold the story until the president was safely back in Washington, D.C.


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