I gotta tell you this story and I may tear up saying it.
It was on a Sunday, a Sunday afternoon.
We just got through with our Sunday lunch and then we heard it on the radio:
that we’d been attacked by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.
“Since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan…”
I said, “Well, they can’t do that to us.
We’ve got to go whip them.”
“…a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”
With the attack of Pearl Harbor, Harry Robin Ledecker joined the millions of Americans
fixated on defending their country from the Axis Forces’ quest for global domination.
Though he was underage at the time, Robin was ready for the day when the draft would
call his name.
He wouldn’t have long to wait.
I was young.
I was still eighteen.
I graduated from high school in May, turned eighteen in May, was drafted in May, was on
active duty in July, 1943.
I was in the Navy and took bootcamp in Farragut, Idaho.
I did a lot of marching and went on the water and rode a boat.
We were there for a little bit and then they assigned me to the Hospital Corps School.
I was a hospital corpsman.
After that, they broke us up and sent us overseas.
And we sailed to the South Pacific.
We sailed to the Fiji Islands.
As we were coming into Fiji, I thought, “This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen!”
The mountains came right down to the ocean, and it was beautiful.
We got down on the dock and I thought, “Boy, this is gonna be nice!”
We walked down the gangplank, walked straight down the gangplank to another ship, got aboard
it, and then we went to Guadalcanal.
Now a major base in the Ally’s campaign to combat Japan’s Pacific conquest, Guadalcanal
had been a hard-fought victory, especially for the United States Marines.
The brutal, six-month-long battle was the Marines’ first encounter with the ferocity
of the Imperial Japanese Army.
On August 7th, 1942, the Allies landed some 11,000 Marines on the shores of Guadalcanal,
who, in turn, began to make quick progress.
But just two days later, before supplies and additional troops could be deployed to the
island, the Allied fleet endured a surprise attack from the Japanese Navy.
Three American cruisers were sunk, another three ships badly damaged, and the fleet withdrew
from the island.
Insufficiently supplied and with no reinforcements, the Marines were stranded, left to face an
enemy who was not about to go quietly.
But by February of 1943, the Japanese forces were defeated, and the Allies had their first
significant foothold in the war in the Pacific.
And then I was assigned to a medical supply facility on Guadalcanal.
We were right next to a stationary hospital.
We supplied them with medical supplies, and any ship that came into the harbor, we filled
their requesitions.
The only thing I had close to actual combat, when we first got there for about a week or
two on Guadalcanal,
there was a plane that came over - it was a Jap plane - he would drop a bomb out in
the jungle and then fly off.
And the next day he would do the same thing.
That went on for maybe a week or two weeks.
Never heard about him anymore.
Although Robin was relatively safe from harm, he would soon experience the realities of
war after a fateful encounter on Guadalcanal.
I gotta tell you this story, and I may tear up saying it.
I was driving down the street one day, and there were two guys walking along the street.
And I looked at them and I thought, “Well, I know those guys.
They’re from home!”
This one guy especially, Bruce Hollembeak.
He lived about a half a block from me and we were good friends in high school.
I went to the Navy and I didn’t see him.
But I saw him there and he was a Marine.
I said, “What are you guys doing here?”
He said, “Well, we’re on R and R. We’re about ready to go back to our unit.”
I said, “What can I get you?
Can I get you anything?”
“Well, we’d like to have a sheet.
We haven’t slept under a sheet in six months.”
I said, “Well, I can do that.
I’ll meet you after the movie tonight.”
The hospital always put on a movie and we went to the movie usually at night.
That was the entertainment.
Anyway, we met at the movie, saw the movie, and I gave him the sheet.
And he said, “By the way, Robin, we’re leaving first thing in the morning.
We’re going back to our unit.”
And I said, “Oh, that’s great.”
I said, “When we get through this war, let’s all meet at the drugstore, at the soda fountain.”
I said, “Let’s meet there and have a cold Coke after the war.”
And Bruce looked at me and he said, “Robin, I’m not gonna make it.”
I said, “Bruce, don’t talk like that.”
I said, “Yes you are.”
He said, “No Robin, I’m not gonna make it.”
I looked at him and I said, “Well, God bless you.”
Shook his hand, turned around and walked off.
He was killed, four days before his nineteenth birthday.
That’s part of war.
War is terrible.
They shouldn’t have wars.
We ought to be able to figure out something not to have wars.
We were there for a year on Guadalcanal, and we were getting so far behind the front lines
that they said, “We’re going to close your unit.”
And we all had orders to go aboard ship for the invasion of Japan.
We were sleeping in tents and some guy came along and said, “Wake up!
The war’s over!”
Nearly four years since the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan was finally defeated to the
point of unconditional surrender.
The war was over, and Robin was going home.
Over 75 years later, the events of the Second World War continue to have a profound effect
on Robin, particularly the memory of those who laid everything on the line.
That’s another reason why I felt honored to come to this.
My brother was a prisoner of war for about six months.
He was in the Army.
He was captured in the Battle of the Bulge.
So, that’s one reason why I’m here today.
I want to honor him and Bruce.
I just think it’s a good thing to give something to your country.
I’ve never regretted being in the service.
I’m proud of it.
I’m proud of my service and proud of my country.