Dr. Robert Beynon was born in August 1924 in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1942 and enlisted in the Navy. He went to submarine school in New London, Connecticut. The submarine service was one of the best in the Navy. The attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was supposed to be a surprise but it really was not. Two people on radar reported planes coming in, but their supervisor said they were ours. We knew the Japanese were at sea, but we did not know where. They did a good job on us. There were five submarines at Pearl Harbor that survived. A sailor who had seen this from his ship in Pearl Harbor, decided that was a good idea. He joined the crew of the USS Bowfin (SS-287). Beynon was in high school when he heard the news. His father told him he could not join the Navy until he graduated, which he did. He wondered why the submarine officers were much older than him and learned it was education. After the war, he got three degrees and ended up teaching a law seminar and had a good career. He left electrician school in New London and had a choice between submarines and landing craft. He chose submarines and it worked out very well. It was a brand new experience. He made nine patrols, all successful. The USS Bowfin was a good boat. They sank 44 ships. In his book, everyone told him they would all do it again [Annotator's Note: "The Pearl Harbor Avenger, U.S.S. Bowfin", 2002]. The crew were highly selected both mentally and physically. He did a study on his crew versus the general public. The submarine crewman were high above the general public. If they did not like a patrol, they just had to ask for a transfer and they would be off immediately. Even today, he is in contact with his former crewmen. [Annotator's Note: Beynon references his book quite often.] The Bowfin was a good boat and people liked it. They had three good captains. Half the crew left because of one captain. When that captain was relieved, that crew returned.

Dr. Robert Beynon was aboard the USS Bowfin (SS-287) for missions seven through nine. The seventh was a lifeguard duty for B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] going to Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan]. The eighth was charting minefields for the invasion [Annotator's Note: for the planned invasion of Japan]. The ninth they were in the Sea of Japan. They had cleaned up the Pacific. Nine boats went into the Sea of Japan and each were assigned an area. They could not fire on a target so as not to alert the Japanese. All nine boats had to be on time and on target to fire at once. They lost the USS Wahoo (SS-238) [Annotator's Note: on 11 October 1943]. Their tenth patrol they were on their way back to the Sea of Japan and they got a message that said the war was over but to be careful. Beynon's first patrol was the seventh for the Bowfin. They were looking for the crews that did not make it back. They were unable to find a person they were told was out there. Beynon was an electrician. The sub had two big batteries and he had to be sure they were in good condition. In the maneuvering room, the orders would be given to activate the propellers. You had to go through the engine rooms to get there. He could not stand the diesel fumes. On their eighth patrol, they sank a ship [Annotator's Note: Coast Defense Vessel No. 56, 17 February 1945]. The escort [Annotator's Note: enemy warship] could not find them and was making big concentric circles. A drawer fell out of the Quartermaster's desk and hit the deck. That alerted the escort and it dropped 21 depth charges in 20 seconds. That forced them down to 650 feet. The boat was designed for 700 feet. That made a lot of pressure on the boat, but it held together. They surfaced and tried to catch and attack the escort, but it was too far and got away.

[Annotator's Note: Dr. Robert Beynon was serving aboard the USS Bowfin (SS-287) when it survived an attack by a Japanese destroyer escort on 17 February 1945.] They went to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana ISlands] to refit the submarine. Guam was one of their bases. They had a rest camp there called Camp Dealey. They would go there for two weeks after every patrol. A relief crew would clean and restore the boat. They would do a week of trial runs and then get orders for their next patrol. They were at Camp Dealy when the Marine Corps invaded Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Tarawa, Gilbert Islands]. Some of the survivors came to Guam and Camp Dealy. They said they lost about 90 percent. They had gone ashore when the tide was going out. Beynon says it is a wonder we won the war. It was a tragic mistake to say the least. Beynon's ninth patrol was into the Sea of Japan. Nine boats went in over three days. It took 17 hours to make the entry. They each had an assigned area to cover. There was not much in there. They were in about a week and then surfaced on the way out. The Sea of Japan was a good run. On their tenth [Annotator's Note: tenth war patrol], they were on their way back, but the war ended.

After the war ended, Dr. Robert Beynon and the USS Bowfin (SS-287) went to Long Island [Annotator's Note: Long Island, New York] and tied up. Half the crew was dismissed. New men came aboard and they went down to Panama to teach the Coast Guard to detect submarines. Beynon slept in the aft torpedo room and when the submarine did a recovering maneuver, he fell out of his bunk. They lost 52 boats [Annotator's Note: during the war]. He wrote an article about what it would be like to be stuck on the bottom of the ocean. Physiologically, the brain would shut down the body and you would go into a coma. They learned some lessons on the USS Plunger (SS-179). They sank some ships and they were on the bottom for 37 hours. Instead of the officers, the crewmen took over. On a submarine the COB, Chief of the Boat, would be the most experienced submariner and he likely took over. They did resurface and were okay. Beynon was in a situation where they were down and a match would not stay lit because of a lack of oxygen. Close quarters is a misnomer talking about submarines. The only time they are all up is at battle stations. He goes to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park in Honolulu, Hawaii] quite frequently and he is asked how he stood the close quarters. They were young, they had a duty to perform, and they were selected to be in those situations.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Dr. Robert Beynon what it was like to be aboard a submarine being attacked with depth charges.] They could hear it hit the surface of the water. When it reached a certain depth, they would hear a ping, and then the charge would explode. A depth charge did not have to hit the boat. The pressure, or concussion, would cause the damage. If it was close enough, it could open a seam or a hatch. All they could do was wait in anticipation. The surface craft was in control. They were attacked by 21 [Annotator's Note: 21 depth charges] in 20 seconds. It only forced them to the bottom. The 52 boats that were lost were due to a lot of reasons. He compares the ocean to the Grand Canyon [Annotator's Note: Arizona]. He hoped a charge would not hit them directly or do damage. There was an element of luck. They were throwing them at them and they just hoped for no damage. They were on the surface one night and a ship was firing at them. One guy said that he guessed he would never see his mother again. There was fear of course, but there was nothing they could do about it. When not on duty and not sleeping, Beynon would eat or play cards. They did a lot of reading or correspondence. They also were preparing for their next rank. On their way back, they knew they had so many miles to travel at only certain speeds, so they would keep track of that.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Dr. Robert Beynon what it was like to go out and come back from patrols on a submarine.] On the way out, they would be on the surface and they would throw a penny overboard for good luck. They were always in a training mode because when on the surface, they had very little time to submerge in the event an airplane appeared. When the claxon sounded, they had about 45 seconds to clear the bridge and get below before the hatch closed. One of the Medal of Honor winners had that happen to him [Annotator's Note: Commander Howard Gilmore, USS Growler (SS-215), 7 February 1943]. They were going to make an invasion and he was privy to all of the information. He could not afford to be captured so he was left topside. On their third patrol, they took out Admiral Christie [Annotator's Note: Admiral Ralph Waldo Christie]. He had developed the torpedoes and wanted to go see what was wrong with them. He was on the bridge when they had to dive. They would slide down the ladder instead of using the rungs. The Admiral was using the rungs and one of the sailors rode his shoulders all the way down. The next day the Admiral apologized to them. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks him if he was ever afraid.] Some did and some had just great anticipation. Beynon does not know if he was ever afraid, but he had high anxiety of course. He did not lose anyone in his crew. Their second captain liked to do a lot of things on the surface. In a conflict, the captain was hit and could not continue on. There were some appendectomies performed. He did not know anyone personally who was lost in the submarine service. All of the information regarding heroes, came out after the war. The submarine service had seven Medal of Honor winners and a high casualty rate of 22 percent. When he wrote his book [Annotator's Note: "The Pearl Harbor Avenger, U.S.S. Bowfin", 2002], he had an opinion. [Annotator's Note: Beynon describes a discussion of the attack on the USS Tang (SS-306) that he had with others.] It was all good duty. They either came back or they did not come back. The poor kids are coming back today all torn up and all for naught.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Dr. Robert Beynon to describe writing his book, "The Pearl Harbor Avenger, U.S.S. Bowfin", 2002]. Someone named Hoyt wrote a book about the Bowfin [Annotator's Note: "Bowfin: The True Story of a Fabled Fleet Submarine in World War II" by Edwin P. Hoyt, 1998], but he had only seen it at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, Honolulu, Hawaii]. Beynon's motivation was that he had reached the conclusion that the public knows nothing about the submarine service and to retain the history of the boat. His former crew members also asked him to clean up the errors in Hoyt's book. It took about two years to write and publish. He did not think about staying in the Navy when the war ended. He went to school. He says you either like the service or you do not. There is nothing in between. World War 2 was something that we had to do. He had other plans. If you do not know history, it will repeat itself. War seems to be with us all the time. It is disconcerting. He feels that the solution is to have a woman president and have all of the politicians go to war because they do not know what it is all about. All of our presidents have had a conflict. World War 2 had a purpose. The subsequent wars are political. Wars are profitable at the expense of the young people. The logic does not make sense. He speaks to groups like The Daughters of the American Revolution. The questions are always good.

Dr. Robert Beynon thinks the war changed him. He was right out of high school. He learned that you always have a boss. He learned a lot of discipline and matured in a big hurry. He learned that 0800 meant 0800 and he is very strict about time now. He saw education as a necessity and that happened. He had a good career. He worked for 36 years and he enjoys himself. He feels his reunions probably will not go on [Annotator's Note: after this one occurring during this interview]. He goes back to Hawaii often [Annotator's Note: to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park, Honolulu, Hawaii]. The USS Bowfin (SS-287) gets a lot of visitors annually. The present ship is stripped down to accommodate the people. His old bunk is still there. Beynon is really impressed with the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] and it is absolutely important for it to be there. Unfortunately, visitors can see all of the aspects of war but cannot do much about it.