President Bush made it a very special Thanksgiving for a Brooklyn family yesterday when he called their sailor son on his ship in the Persian Gulf. The sailor then phoned home to share the holiday thrill.
“That was good. That adds the dessert to it. That makes it really special,” said Larry Render after talking to his son, Reginald Render, who’s stationed off Bahrain on the USS Dextrous, an anti-mine ship.
It was one of 10 thank-you calls Bush made from his Texas ranch to U.S. troops around the world, a year after his surprise visit to Baghdad to share turkey with the troops.
For the Render family, the best part was that their Reggie got to call home and share Thanksgiving from halfway around the world and reassure his wife and parents in Flatbush that he was fine.
His wife, Hamidah, said, “The [call] really affected him. He was really excited.”
The family got their first word of the call from Reggie’s commanding officer, who was quick to reassure them, “It’s not bad news, it’s not bad news.”
“He said my son had just gotten off the phone with the president and he did them all proud,” recounted dad Larry, 54, a post-office supervisor.
Then Reggie got on the phone, his dad said, “and I joked, I said, ‘Hopefully, you didn’t embarrass yourself and the Navy and your family and you were able to open your mouth and speak clearly.’ And he said he did fine.”
He said Reginald told his family a while ago that someone in his unit was to get a call from the president on Thanksgiving.
His mother, Veronica, 52, also a postal supervisor, said she’d kidded her son that if he really did get to talk to Bush, “Tell him I need a house.”
She added, “I asked him afterward, ‘Did you ask your homey for that house?’ He just started laughing. He was just in a good mood.”
For Larry Render, hearing his son’s voice was a relief, because “you worry all the time halfway around the world, especially like this with the war going on.”
He added that he appreciated Bush making the calls, for “inspiration and motivation.”
Reggie’s call was a special treat on a day when 20 people were gathering in the Renders’ apartment for a Thanksgiving feast.
The young man enlisted while he was at Hampton College in Virginia, and plans to finish his education with Navy help.
A graduate of New Utrecht HS, he hopes to become a screenwriter. He married Hamidah, a fellow Brooklynite, just six months before enlisting.
The president spent the day at his Crawford, Texas, ranch with his family, including his mother and ex-president dad, First Lady Laura, and their twins, Jenna and Barbara, who celebrated their 23rd birthday.