IRVING T. BUSH - HUSBAND OF CASEY BUSH - FOUNDER OF THE HEADWEAR INFORMATION BUREAU - PASSED AWAY LAST WEEK

Bush, who was 95 years-old, won numerous medals for heroic achievement in World War II. He was also an attorney on General Macarthur’s staff during the Japanese Reconstruction. On April 22, 1945, Bush volunteered to man a gunboat to keep the Japanese Army from crossing the Mindanao River. On that fateful day he found the enemy using the cable ferry and immediately drove them back from the river.

His gunboat grounded on a sandbar and could not be removed. Although exposed to enemy gunfire - and unable to get reinforcements - Irving placed a small number of men at each end of the ferry and denied the enemy entry until the Infantry arrived the next day. Throughout the night, the gunboat was hit by enemy fire several times, rendering one of Irving’s machine guns useless. Yet he held on throughout the night, returning fire along the river, and managing to hold his position with only nine men.

Bush graduated first in his class from New York University Law School, and in 1932 graduated from Union College with a degree in Civil Engineering, then served on the Island of Japan during its reconstruction under General Macarthur and assisted in drafting the law of Bankruptcy and setting up a Government for them.

Irving T. Bush was a colonel in the U.S. Army and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 4 Bronze service stars, the World War II Victory Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with 2 bronze service stars, Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII and the Expert Badge with Rifle Bar.

Bush was the nephew of Irving T. Bush, the President of the Bush Terminal Company in New York. In New York Bush had a distinguished legal career representing unions with a specialty in Labor Law. He was a law partner in Miller and Bush, and had a private law practice as well. Irving also owned and managed real estate in Greenwich Village, New York.

While in high school Bush was City, State and Midwest backstroke swimming champion. He is survived by his wife, Virginia Casey Bush, his sister Barbara Bush Denson of Hebron, Ohio, and his brother Capt. James Ter Bush, USN (Ret) of Naples Florida. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Cabrini Hospital, Attention Mary Cook, 227 E 19th Street, New York, NY 10013.

We offer Casey our condolences and say goodbye to the husband who was surrounded by as many hats as he was gunfire in his old army days. I never heard him complain about the headwear that hung from the walls and draped the table tops at the Bush household. For those of you who know Casey, you probably know that Irving was always surrounded by hats, hat people and hat banter.

We hope he rests in peace (with a hat on of course).