John Robert Votrobeck Jr. was born in July 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska. He went to school in Omaha and graduated high school in 1942. He was five years old when the Great Depression started, but remembered it because of how the adults reacted. Most of the people in the area, including his grandfather, tried to find work in the local packing plant. Throughout the Great Depression, Votrobeck's father was able to find work at the railroad. His mother would send food up to her parents because they still had small children in their house. When he graduated high school, Votrobeck worked in the canning department of the local packing plant, where they made food going to the military. On 7 December 1942, Votrobeck and a friend went to the draft board to enlist in the Marines. Because he went through the draft board, he was not inducted until 19 April 1943, but he did get sworn into the Navy the following day. He then left on 27 April for boot camp in Farragut, Idaho. Not being athletic, boot camp was eye opening to Votrobeck. While in boot camp, he learned to march, ran obstacle courses and learned to shoot rifles and pistols, and went through a gas chamber. Votrobeck's company was one of the few not to catch scarlet fever, so he had to do extra mess hall duty. He finished boot camp on 26 June 1943. After a short leave, he attended radio school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. When not in the classroom, Votrobeck kept up with his physical education including swimming in Lake Monona. While in school, Votrobeck volunteered to work on a submarine. When he graduated on 6 December 1943, he took a ten day leave then went to New London, Connecticut where he trained in submarine warfare. This included a physical, seeing a psychiatrist, training in a pressure chamber, and training in a dive tank. In the dive tank, he learned how to go down and up from deep depths without injury. Votrobeck spent three and a half months training. When he went to submarine school, he learned how to dive a submarine, hydraulic systems, air systems, and firing torpedoes. He also had to know how to draw the systems.

After John Votrobeck graduated, he took a train through Omaha, [Annotator's Note: Omaha, Nebraska] and on 20 April [Annotator's Note: 20 April 1944], his dad came out to see him go though and give him five dollars. [Annotator's Note: Votrobeck shows emotion.] He arrived on Mare Island, California, where he boarded a Norwegian cargo ship called the Day Star. On the ship, he only received breakfast and dinner, but was given cigarettes and apples. When the ship crossed the equator, Votrobeck performed an initiation [Annotator's Note: the Shellback Ceremony that every sailor performs when they cross the equator for the first time] before arriving at Milne Bay, New Guinea on 28 May. He went ashore on 2 June, a very rainy day. He went over the side of the ship into a raft, then went ashore. It was the biggest mud hole Votrobeck had ever seen in his life. It was his most depressing day up to then. The barracks had no walls, but it had long eaves for a roof which kept the rain out. Along the sides were rails which kept people from falling out. It was so hot, they did not need walls. He slept under mosquito netting. Everything was covered in mud. He stayed on the island for 60 days. While he was on New Guinea, he did not get paid because his records were closed. To get money, Votrobeck would sell his beer chits [Annotator's Note: a voucher] to CBs [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions]. On the island, his shipmates were idle and would be given less than desirable tasks. Votrobeck volunteered as a night cook to get out of doing worse jobs, but it also gave him access to better food. On one occasion, he was on a work party that unloaded beer from ships but he could not take any because he was being watched by armed guards. At night, they would watch movies in the rain. When he finished radio and submarine school, Votrobeck did not receive any more training. On 24, July, Votroceck traveled to Brisbane [Annotator's Note: Brisbane, Australia] then took a train to Sydney [Annotator's Note: Sydney, Australia]. For a week, he worked at an ammo dump. During this time, he was still not getting paid. They then began traveling across Australia by train. The trains were made up of nothing but compartment cars. Because there were no diner cars on the trains, they would be trucked to locations with meals ready to eat. Sometimes they had to eat cold bully beef and coffee on the side of the train. Eventually they arrived at Perth, then moved to the base at Freemantle [Annotator's Note: Freemantle, Australia]. Ted Turner [Annotator's Note: Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III, an American businessman] ran an America's Cup [Annotator's Note: a series of match races between two yachts] from that harbor. That is where the boats would come in to be refitted.

When John Votrobeck arrived at the base [Annotator's Note: in Freemantle, Australia], he was assigned to Submarine Division 161, attached to the USS Orion (AS-18), but was working on overhauling other boats [Annotator's Note: submarines are referred to as boats]. As a radioman, he worked above decks and helped refit the USS Crevalle (SS-291) and USS Bluegill (SS-242). After 41 days, he was transferred to the submarine tender USS Euryale (AS-22). He enjoyed it much more because he worked in the radio room instead of painting. He stayed with the Euryale from 15 October [Annotator's Note: 15 October 1944] to 28 January, when he was transferred to the USS Blenny (SS-324). Votrobeck found life on the ship to be good. The food was good on the ship and he did not have to get dirty below deck. He had plenty of free time between shifts and on his days off. When he arrived on the Blenny, he found one of his classmates from submarine school, Richard Trump. So far, the ship had only made one run. Every day, the Blenny sailed into the Indian Ocean for shakedown cruises [Annotator's Note: a cruise to evaluate the performance of a vessel and crew]. During these drills, Votrobeck was assigned various roles including lookout duty, helm watch, sound watch, and periscope watch. On 5 February 1945, the Blenny went on a war patrol off French Indochina [Annotator's Note: modern day Vietnam]. The Blenny passed through the Lombok Straight and into the Java Sea. Votrobeck had a friend named Bob Patterson who served on the USS Bullhead (SS-332) which was sunk in the Lombok Straight at the end of the war. The Blenny made it to Cam Ranh Bay [Annotator's Note: French Indochina] without any issues. Around 19 February, the Blenny intercepted a ship with three or four escorts. The "Old Man" [Annotator's Note: the skipper or captain of the boat] fired torpedoes at the ships. Votrobeck explains the difficulties of the American torpedoes during the war. The four torpedoes fired at the enemy ships did nothing. The skipper then saw an enemy destroyer drop depth charges [Annotator's Notes: an antisubmarine weapon]. The first depth charge exploded near the Blenny, causing a sink tank near Votrobeck to fall off the wall and empty water onto his feet. Thinking the hull had been breached, he sealed the after torpedo room [Annotator's Note: torpedo room in the rear of the vessel]. Another sailor checked the room and found nothing wrong and told him to get back in there. Votrobeck did not think he would see his home again. The destroyer passed over the Blenny, then circled back for another run. Going into silent running, the skipper did his best to evade the destroyer. Votrobeck remembered it as a bad afternoon. Once the boat resurfaced, Votrobeck remembered the fresh air as something to behold. They continued patrolling the beach while making repairs to the boat. During this time, the Blenny sank an enemy ship.

Running low on fuel and torpedoes, John Votrobeck [Annotator's Note: aboard the USS Blenny (SS-324)] sailed to Subic Bay [Annotator's Bay: Subic Bay, Philippines], where the submarine tender USS Griffin (AS-13) was stationed. Pulling up next to the tender, Votrobeck was working the torpedo reload. Many of the men working on the Griffin traveled across Australia with Votrobeck, and were happy to see him. While they were loading torpedoes, enemy planes were coming in, forcing the USS Blenny (SS-324) to go out to the bay. With the ship reloaded, Votrobeck went back to Vietnam. Patrolling up the same stretch of coast, around 22 March [Annotator's Note: 22 March 1945], three enemy tankers and four escorts were spotted. The skipper moved into position and fired four torpedoes, sinking two tankers and damaging the third. They then evaded the escorts and made it out to sea. The escorts dropped depth charges, but they did not damage the Blenny. After that patrol, the Blenny returned to Subic for refit. During that time, President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] died. Votrobeck heard after the Blenny returned from a training cruise. He was also told that Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] was now president, but he did not know who Truman was. Votrobeck did not get much political news out there. On his third patrol, Votrobeck was stationed in the Tonkin Gulf [Annotator's Note: Vietnam] but did not see any action. He rendezvoused with the USS Blackfish (SS-221) and picked up two pilots. After returning to Subic Bay for refit midway through the patrol, they dropped the pilots off. On her way back out, she fired on an enemy radio tower on a nearby island. In the Java Sea, the Blenny moved ten miles up a river on Banjarmasin [Annotator's Note: Banjarmasin, Indonesia] to attack two submarine chasers. Firing on the ships, one was hit and the other was damaged and beached for the remainder of the war. With the damage done, the Blenny returned to the Java Sea. In May, while returning to Perth [Annotator's Note: Perth, Australia], the Blenny sank cargo ship and took prisoners from the water, including the Japanese skipper.

On 5 July [Annotator's Note: 5 July 1945], after refuel and refit in Perth [Annotator's Note: Perth, Australia], John Votrobeck sailed out towards Malaysia. The Blenny [Annotator's Note: USS Blenny (SS-324)] sank another ship in the Lombok Straight, but then the number two main motor malfunctioned, forcing her to lay on the bottom of the Java Sea for 35 hours until it was fixed. After fixing the motor, the Blenny ran into an ammunition ship and an escort. After sinking the ammunition ship, the Blenny and the escort got into a running gun battle until the Benny finally escaped. Making it to Malaysia, Votrobeck saw Japanese ships being repaired in Singapore. Small ships from China and Vietnam were bringing supplies to the Japanese. The Blenny was ordered to sink the small boats, but not harm the crews. They would take the sailors onboard, sink the boat, then put the sailors on shore. During his last patrol, 63 of these small ships were sunk. Occasionally, if the Blenny ran low on ammunition and came across a nearby boat [Annotator's Note: submarines are referred to as boats] going back to base, they would rendezvous and exchange what ammunition was left. Votorbeck discusses a boarding party from the USS Cod (SS-224) that went missing during a similar raid on 1 August 1945. While searching for the Cod, the Blenny surfaced near a small boat with Americans on it. Votrobeck got to know them and it turned out they were the missing boarding party from the Cod. The men were later transferred back to the Cod. After the war, Votrobeck ran into one of those sailors at a reunion of World War 2 submariners and they became good friends. On 14 August, Votrobeck arrived at Subic Bay [Annotator's Note: Subic Bay, Philippines]. The following day, they went back out to sea for a sound test, which is when Votrobeck heard that the war was over. He then went back ashore and celebrated the war being over. Votrobeck spent the rest of the year in Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands], where he continued to train. On 29 January [Annotator's Note: 29 January 1945], he arrived in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. On 22 February, Votrobeck was discharged from the Navy at Lambert Field in Saint Louis [Annotator's Note: Saint Louis, Missouri].

While in the Java Sea after sinking a ship, another Japanese ship tried to sink the USS Blenny (SS-324). The crew then started shooting back at the enemy ship, but eventually escaped. John Votrobeck does not know if they hit the other ship. After the damage from the depth charge on his first tour, he had to get to work to help fix the damage. The worst damage was on 19 March [Annotator's Note: 19 March 1945], off of Cam Ranh Bay. After diving, it became apparent that something was wrong with the hatch cover. By the time the hatch got fixed, water was pouring into the boat [Annotator's Note: submarines are referred to as boats]. The water was waist high by the time the problem was fixed. However, water got all over different areas of the boat, getting all sorts of equipment wet. Eventually the water was pumped out and the various systems were restored. Normally a crew was able to fix their boats if the damage was not too bad. Votrobeck thinks that was the closest thing he experienced to a crippled submarine. He thinks that by the end of the war, the Japanese were becoming better at sinking submarines because the Americans had to enter shallower water to sink smaller boats. Japanese destroyers were also able to make depth charges while at sea, allowing them to stay at sea longer. Votrobeck believe submarines starved the Japanese of oil, effectively crippling the Japanese. Votrobeck discusses the kamikaze nature of the Japanese military from Okinawa to Midway. As a radioman, he listened to copied messages that came in. He would also help decode messages. The Blenny only had four radiomen. On 6 August, he copied a message about a big bomb dropped on Hiroshima [Annotator's Note: Hiroshima, Japan] that day. He did not believe the explosion could be that big. When he told the skipper, he said it was a mistake, it should be larger. The next day, was the skippers 33rd birthday and the boat was almost bombed off of Thailand. The average age of the men on the boat was 22 years old. Votrobeck turned 21 years old during the final patrol.

John Votrobeck likes to think the war did not change him. The training he went through honed his skills, particularly typing. He got married shortly after leaving the service. When he started at the railroad in Omaha [Annotator's Note: Omaha, Nebraska], he was unloading mail and eventually worked his way through the company until they transferred him to the Denver [Annotator's Note: Denver, Colorado] area. He believes the discipline he experienced helped him. He does not think kids are being taught enough discipline. He does not think there is enough respect for the office of the President [Annotator's Note: of the United States]. He believes World War 2 woke America up. He thinks America is slipping back into a 1930s mindset. He says today we make military goods but not much else. But he does think the country learned something and thinks there was tremendous change in the America. Votrobeck believes World War 2 changed the world. The United Nations was created and colonization started to crumble. Votrobeck thinks The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] is important so people do not repeat it. He also led to a lot of advances in technology.