Col Ray L'Heurex Inside Marine One

INSIDE MARINE ONE :Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter Col. Ray "Frenchy" L’Heureux, USMC (Ret.) was in love with flying since he was a little boy. He built model planes and spent idle time daydreaming about someday flying his own. When he was twelve he received the most amazing gift he could have ever hoped for: flying lessons in a Cessna at the local airfield. When he was allowed to take over the controls for a brief period of the training session he was hooked for life. From that first moment controlling a plane, L’Heureux never could have dreamed that one day he would be flying Presidents and world leaders. In his exhilarating and joyful memoir, INSIDE MARINE ONE: Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter (St. Martin’s Press, on sale 5/27/14), L’Heureux recounts his rise through the ranks of the Marines to control the most amazing helicopter there is. From Parris Island to Bravo Company, and then officer training, L’Heureux’s career was moving along a fine path in the Marines. One day it all changed when he was at an airfield as President Reagan landed on his way to a fundraiser. L’Heureux took one look at those incredible helicopters – a Sea King and a White Hawk – and he knew full-on what he wanted his career arc to be. L’Heureux studied and worked extremely hard to make it in HMX1 (Marine Helicopter Squadron One), the squadron that flies the president. All the arduous training paid off when he finally earned his place with this elite group and took command. INSIDE MARINE ONE recounts wonderful stories by L’Heureux of flying Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and numerous other dignitaries and world leaders,including Pope John Paul II. From playing “wollyball” with President George H.W. Bush, hiking with the Pope, and mountain biking with President George W. Bush, L’Heureux saw a side of these great men and leaders few of us ever do. By piloting these world leaders L’Heureux also experienced history up close.+ INSIDE MARINE ONE is a personal guided tour of the world’s most famous helicopter by the one man who knows that flying machine better than anyone else. This is a great American success story of a young boy who dreamed big, worked hard and finally flew, taking 4 presidents of the United States along for the ride. Col. Ray “Frenchy” L’Heureux joined the U.S. Marine Corp in 1980. In 1991, he joined HMX1, flying Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In 2006, he became Commanding Officer flying Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He retired in 2011 and lives in Hawaii.