Local man prevented Ford assassination 31 years ago

[kentuck]

http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1328181&secid=1

<snip>
The nation Wednesday mourned the death of former President Gerald Ford.

If not for a Colorado Springs resident, the grieving might have started 31 years ago.

Larry Buendorf, chief of security for the U.S. Olympic Complex, was a Secret Service agent on Sept. 5, 1975, when he foiled an attempt to assassinate Ford.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Buendorf said Wednesday night.

Buendorf was protecting Ford in Sacramento, Calif., when the president decided to walk across a park near the California Capitol building.

As theymoved through a crowd, Buendorf spotted something suspicious.


A woman, Charles Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, was lifting a handgun. Buendorf yelled out “.45,” then disarmed her.

“It was one of those things that happened so fast that you really don’t think about it,” Buendorf said. He had been trained to “react to the unusual,” and that was what he did.

Buendorf went on to guard President Jimmy Carter. He later headed Ford’s security detail, skiing with him in Vail.

The two tried to talk each year on Sept. 5, Buendorf said. Buendorf said he last saw Ford a year ago in Vail.

[Blue_Tires]

1. interesting

i never knew about this guy...thanks for posting this