Robert “Bob” Bowron was born in Birmingham [Annotator’s Note: Birmingham, Alabama] in January 1927. He recalled when FDR [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] closed the banks for a few days during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:03:00.000.] He learned about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] while he was listening to the radio with his family and some neighbors. Bowron knew it was big news, but did not know where Pearl Harbor was located. As war broke out, he saw lots of men boarding trains to join the service. Bowman joined the Army when he was 17 years old. He joined the Army because he thought he had a better shot of being accepted. He wore glasses and did not think he would be accepted into the Air Force. He was sent to Camp Rucker [Annotator’s Note: Fort Rucker, Alabama]. Live machine guns were going off over his head and they marched 12 to 15 miles at a time. Prior to going to Fort Rucker, Bowron attended McCallie High School [Annotator’s Note: The McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee], which was a military school for boys. By the time he arrived for basic training, he was familiar with military regimentation. On 8 May 1945, Bowron was still in training when he heard that the war in Europe had ended. He was home in Tampa [Annotator’s Note: Tampa, Florida] for two weeks before he was sent overseas. He reported to California by hitchhiking on bomber planes and sent his 99 dollars for the train home to his family. He arrived earlier than the rest of his unit. He stayed out in California for 45 days before he embarked for the Pacific. The war with Japan had just ended.

Soon after the war ended, Robert “Bob” Bowron was sent overseas to the Pacific. He boarded a ship with 4,000 troops. The voyage was very rough and many of the troops became seasick. After 16 days of travel, he disembarked at Yokohama [Annotator’s Note: Yokohama, Japan]. He saw a whole American fleet in the harbor. On 1 September 1945, he was in the city in which the Japanese signed the surrender. Everyone was so happy and celebratory. He thought dropping the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] was the right thing to do, because millions of people would have lost their lives if they were not dropped due to the proposed plan of Operation Downfall [Annotator’s Note: Operation Downfall was the proposed Allied plan for the invasion of the Japanese home islands near the end of World War 2]. While in Yokohama, Bowron was assigned to 495th Port Battalion. He and another guy were given orders to pass out bread to all the units. They drove around in a truck full of bread. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:16:11.000.] He had very little interaction with the Japanese. They acted subservient towards the Americans. During his free time, Bowron often toured the area of Japan in a jeep. While he was on the railway service, he went through Hiroshima [Annotator’s Note: Hiroshima, Japan]. He saw children begging for food. He hated seeing that sight. One of Bowron’s duties was to run a PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange]. He did not like how some of the Americans treated the Japanese. He stayed in Japan for one year and then returned to California. He was discharged in Texas and then flew home to Alabama. He had some difficulty adjusting to civilian life, but after he started college, he began to adjust well. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to go to school. [Annotator’s Note: phone rings in the background at 0:26:37.000.]

Robert “Bob” Bowron believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. He enjoyed his visit to the Museum and interacting the with staff. The younger generation does not understand the sacrifice his generation made during World War 2.