DENISON, Texas — In a town that is no stranger to heroes, one stood out Saturday.
US Airways Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III returned to his hometown of Denison, Texas, to help pay tribute to military veterans on the 65th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. Denison also was the birthplace of the man who led the invasion, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Gov. Rick Perry presented Sullenberger with a legislative resolution praising his safe landing of a US Airways jet on the Hudson River on Jan. 15, saving all aboard.
A crowd of flag-waving, sign-holding north Texans staked out sidewalk space early Saturday to get a good glimpse at the 57-year-old pilot and Air Force veteran in a parade down Main Street.
“It makes me proud and makes me feel good to know that somebody from such a small town can do something so great and save a lot of lives,” said Helen Moore, a drum major in the high school band.
Barbara Dotson, 27, of Mesquite held a copy of The New York Times that had a picture of Sullenberger’s plane floating in the Hudson — and Sullenberger’s signature newly added in the top-left corner.
“He’s a hero because he saved all those people’s lives,” she said, “And he was unselfish in what he did.”
Sullenberger was to address the 2009 graduating class at Denison High School on Saturday night, 40 years after his own graduation there.
Speaking briefly after the parade, he said it was circumstance that brought together the crew on that particular flight and thanked them for their work. He said he was proud to see that Denison had retained the small-town values it had when he grew up there.
Sullenberger also thanked the widow of his Denison flight instructor. Then he scanned the crowd of people and said he had just one question: “How come you weren’t this nice to me back in high school?”
Denison is a town of about 22,000 people about 70 miles north of Dallas.
