A distinguished Cold War-era aviator was given a final tribute recently by the Navy when the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt used one of its catapults to fire his service boots into the air.
The “boot shot” occurred on Feb. 19, shortly after the carrier committed the cremated remains of the late retired Adm. Donald Bullard to the sea as it cruised the Indo-Pacific.
Bullard, who died last year, was commissioned in the Navy in 1973 and served for nearly 40 years, many as an aviator who flew a variety of fighter jets.
He made more than 1,000 carrier landings, some of which occurred on the USS Kitty Hawk, a famed carrier stationed in San Diego. In the late 1990s, he also served as commander of another widely known San Diego carrier, the USS Constellation.
