The president praised veterans in the crowd, including those who served aboard the Intrepid in its long history of military action.
"Today we send a clear message to all who have worn the uniform: Thank you for your courage, thank you for your sacrifice, and thank you for standing up when your nation needed you most," said Bush, who will soon turn over to President-elect Barack Obama the responsibility for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama has pledged to remove troops from Iraq and increase troops in Afghanistan.
With a little more than two months until he leaves office, the president teased lawmakers in attendance about the upcoming lame-duck legislative session, and joked that one thing he won't miss as president is New York City traffic jams.
Then he grew serious.
"I will miss being the commander in chief of such a fabulous group of men and women, those who wear the uniform of the United States military," Bush said.
Closer to the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney marked Veterans and improvements costing nearly $120 million.
Launched in 1943 as one of the Navy's then-new Essex-class attack carriers, the USS Intrepid figured in six major Pacific theater campaigns including Leyte Gulf, the war's greatest naval battle. It survived five Japanese kamikaze planes and a torpedo but lost 270 crew members in combat.
After World War II, the Intrepid saw service in the Korean and Vietnam wars and was twice a recovery ship for NASA astronauts.
Then it was decommissioned and mothballed in a Philadelphia shipyard and slated for demolition until rescued by New York real estate developer and philanthropist Zachary Fisher.
On the Net:
Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum:
http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/
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