You answered a question recently about the presidents who actually saw combat while serving in the military and I'm just curious when was the last time that one of the presidential nominees was a bona fide war hero? George Bush Sr?
George H.W. Bush was definitely a decorated hero of World War II, but there have actually been three major party Presidential since Bush 41 who I think could/should be classified as war heroes -- and they all lost their Presidential campaigns.
The most recent was 2008 Republican Presidential nominee John McCain, who flew nearly two dozen bombing missions during the Vietnam War before being shot down and taken prisoner. McCain was a POW for nearly six years and faced such brutal torture during that time that he was permanently disabled to the point of being unable to raise his arms above shoulder-level for the rest of his life. And when the North Vietnamese learned that McCain's father was a powerful four-star Admiral who commanded American forces in the Pacific during the war, they offered to release McCain for propaganda purposes, but he refused to accept freedom while other Americans were still held as POWs. McCain's not only the most recent war hero to be nominated for the Presidency, but he's the most recent major party Presidential nominee to have any type of military service.
Despite the despicable lies of the "Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth", 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry was also a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. Kerry was wounded in combat and awarded three Purple Hearts along with the Silver Star and the Bronze Star. Shortly after returning from Vietnam Kerry became an outspoken opponent of the war, which helped launch his political career.
Last but not least, the other major party Presidential nominee since George H.W. Bush who was a war hero was 1996 Republican nominee Bob Dole, who was so severely wounded during World War II that it took him YEARS to recover. As I once wrote:
Dole barely survived both World War II and the grueling attempts at rehabilitating his injuries afterward. And even then, Dole lost nearly all ability to use his right arm for the remainder of his long life (he died in 2021 at the age of 98) -- which is why he was almost always seen with a pen or a rolled up piece of paper in his right hand. Dole even has a pen in his hand in the official portrait commissioned to honor his service as U.S. Senate Majority Leader. Politicians spend a lot of time shaking hands, so Dole kept an item in his right hand at all times because he was physically unable to use it for anything else and it was a creative way to get people to shake his left hand instead.
