Robert L. Donovan was drafted. He wanted to enlist in the Air Force. He had hay fever so they did not let him enlist. He worked for the Defense Department. They were making bulletproof fuel cells for planes. He was inducted into the Army. He went to Fort Bragg [Annotator’s Note: Fort Bragg, North Carolina] for all his training. They were then sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. They were issued wool uniforms and were told to expect to go to Europe. After a week, the orders on the bulletin board told them to turn in the wool uniforms and get suntan uniforms. Then they boarded a train and headed west. Donovan was from Springfield Township, Ohio. He was born in July 1921. His father was a machine gun sergeant during World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] and would talk a lot about the war. He was a foreman before the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. When the Depression hit, his job was eliminated and he became an elevator operator. His mother became a teacher after going to college for two years. His parents got married soon after she was out of school. His older brother was born in March 1920, his younger brother was born in 1925, and his younger sister was born in 1937. His older brother served in the Navy doing submarine repair. His younger brother was also in the Navy.

Robert L. Donovan did not want to be in the infantry. He was working at the Goodrich Company when he learned that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He did not know where Pearl Harbor was. He knew he would be drafted sooner or later. When he got to California, he was sent to Angel Island point of embarkation. After a week, their shipping orders were posted on a bulletin board. As they went on board the ship, they were told to stay below deck. They joined a convoy with several other troop transports. Donovan volunteered for duty on the deck manning a machine gun which meant that he did not have to serve KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police]. They shipped out in February 1943. They had canvas bunks fastened to poles and slept with their life jackets on. They were stacked in fours. They went to Hawaii for a few weeks. It took them seven days to get from San Francisco [Annotator’s Note: San Francisco, California] to Honolulu [Annotator’s Note: Honolulu, Hawaii]. Donovan was assigned to Headquarters Battery in the fire direction group. They did the computations for all of the guns in the battalion. They learned how to compute the data. The guys who had been there during Pearl Harbor trained them.

Robert L. Donovan trained for artillery at Fort Bragg [Annotator’s Note: Fort Bragg, North Carolina]. He learned how to assemble and disassemble weapons, and trained in how to identify enemy aircraft. They learned how to use hand grenades. His father served in World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918] and had a revolver left over from his time in the Army. While in Hawaii, Donovan had a one-night pass to see a movie or go to the beach. They left in June or July [Annotator’s Note: of 1943] on a ship. A battleship accompanied them to Sydney, Australia. They got to Sydney in July, which was winter time there. They slept in tents with straw mattresses. It was cold when they were sleeping at night. He had one furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] in Sydney. An Australian approached him and asked him if he played around. The Australian wanted to stay in a room with him. He ran back and found some of his buddies and he hung out with them for the rest of the night. Then they took a train to Brisbane, Australia and went inland by truck. It was warmer the closer they got to the equator. They would train in the mornings. They did their laundry in the river. They trained in Australia until October or November. They went up near the Great Barrier Reef on Goodenough Island [Annotator’s Note: Papua New Guinea]. This was the first time Donovan got seasick. They had to get used to the real tropics.

Robert L. Donovan boarded a troop transport to go to Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. The infantry landed ahead of them. As the artillery, they did not get off the beach. They went up the hill and captured the airfield. Most of the Japanese had moved out of the area. There was not much opposition. They had a minor incident with the natives. The service battery had a truckload of them. Donovan was in the fire direction center. His job was to direct the others in the fire direction center. They were supporting the 19th or the 21st Infantry Regiments. They had 105s [Annotator's Note: M2A1 105mm howitzer; standard light field howitzer]. They spent most of the time at the beach. There was a lot of rain and a terrible amount of mosquitoes. They had jungle hammocks which had a rubber roof and mosquito netting. One day, another soldier spotted a ten-foot snake. One of the men found a stash of Japanese rice. They had nothing but different types of rice dinners. He was used to eating dehydrated potatoes, eggs, and milk along with spam. He was three or five miles behind the lines. He did not see the enemy. He had hatred towards the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese]. They were something to be hated for their sneaky attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] and their treatment of soldiers at Bataan [Annotator's Note: the forced march of 60,000 to 80,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army in April 1942]. They had seen what the Japanese were doing on the news reels. They trained and did leisure time activities.

Robert L. Donovan landed in Leyte [Annotator’s Note: Leyte, the Philippines] on 20 October [Annotator’s Note: 20 October 1944]. The battleships were behind them and bombarding the beach. It was a horrendous noise. The infantry landed on the beach. There were four divisions that went into the Philippines. After the infantry secured the beach, Donovan and his unit landed on the beach. They were in a schoolyard. The first night onshore they were in a blackout tent. The first night they slept outside. Two men were under the trailer and Donovan was under the truck. The Japanese launched an attack on a bridge a few miles away. His friends could not get him to wake up. It was not an easy task to offload their equipment off the LSTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] or Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat]. They were on the beach for several days supporting the infantry. Donovan saw General MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] come onshore. It was a fantastic feeling seeing him come onshore. They loved his tactics. Donovan was greatly impressed. For a few weeks, they were busy supporting the infantry. The island was pretty secure, other than the northern end. The 52nd Field Artillery Battalion was sent to help the infantry clear out the last of the Japanese. They were in a commercial coconut grove. People put ladders down and came out of the huts that they thought were abandoned. The people came down while they were singing hymns on Sunday.

Robert L. Donovan did not rely on his faith as much as people would think. He did not find himself praying very often. He was wounded on 24 November [Annotator’s Note: of 1944] in a coconut grove. This time the whole battalion [Annotator’s Note: 52nd Field Artillery Battalion, 24th Infantry Division] was together. The Japanese artillery spotted them and zeroed in on their position. They could hear the artillery shell arriving. It sounded like a train. Donovan had gotten out of his foxhole. He had to run and dive into his foxhole. He got hit in the left leg by a small fragment of the shell. They lost three people. He was the only one in Headquarters Battery that was wounded. Six guns were damaged. One of the medics bandaged his wound. When a surgeon saw it, they sent him to the field hospital across the bay. He went across by DUCK [Annotator's Note: DUKW, a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck; also known as a Duck]. His wound started to smell. Gangrene [Annotator’s Note: a serious condition where a loss of blood supply causes body tissue to die] had gotten in his wound. They put sulpha [Annotator's Note: sulphonamides, sulfa drugs or sulpha drugs; powdered antibacterial medication that was sprinkled onto wounds to help prevent infection] in it and he had to stay there for two weeks. The wound had to heal from the inside out. He was told to hitchhike back to his unit. They brought in the 503rd Paratroopers [Annotator's Note: 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment] to assist in the fight. Eventually, the entire division was involved. The Japanese were reinforcing their troops. There was a typhoon and it rained a lot. They fired about 45,000 rounds of ammunition. One of the radio/telephone operators said something he did not like, but he did not call a cease-fire. He feels like he should have when he looks back.

Robert L. Donovan remembers that the Filipinos would take the leftovers from the soldiers after they would liberate an area. Donovan did not think they should be eating his discarded food because it was not good for them to eat garbage. Now he thinks that was very narrow-minded. It was common at the time not to like Jewish people. Desegregation was happening in his home state. [Annotator’s Note: Donovan is describing how the world was narrow-minded.] They got to see a Bob Hope [Annotator's Note: Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope KBE; British-American entertainer who was famous for entertaining American troops serving overseas during World War 2, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War] show while in Mindoro [Annotator’s Note: Mindoro, the Philippines]. He did not get to see the show, but he could hear it over the loudspeakers. The shows were extremely important. It was the highlight of their experience. It brought them out of the dark. They were in Mindoro for a couple of months. He saw a major league baseball player while there. Their final combat mission was to Mindanao [Annotator’s Note: Mindanao, the Philippines]. The infantry was moving so fast that it was hard to keep up with them. They needed motorized means. They could smell Japanese bodies rotting. They did not know at the time they were bound for the Japanese invasion. They were going to invade near Tokyo [Annotator’s Note: Tokyo, Japan]. They knew all the Japanese people would fight until the death. When the bombs were dropped [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945], it was the strangest feeling. They did not celebrate. They were in shock that the war was over. It was a sense of relief. He had enough points to go home [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home]. He had a Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is an award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy] which meant that he had five more points than the guys he was with. There was a delay in getting orders to go home. When he left the Philippines, he was on a ship for 17 days. They were aboard the ship during Thanksgiving and were served the first fresh food they had eaten in a long time. Each man got a turkey leg. It was a troop transport. They were off the coast of Alaska. There was a storm and they had to brace themselves and their mess kits while they ate.

Robert L. Donovan went from the Philippines to the United States [Annotator’s Note: in November 1945]. Everybody wanted to eat steak and eggs. He was overseas for 34 months. He did not get a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He got back on 4 December 1945. He was a staff sergeant. He went to Purdue University [Annotator’s Note: in West Lafayette, Indiana] and graduated in 1949. He married in December 1947. After graduation, he went to work for United Airlines. He majored in air transportation. He was not making very much money. The National Guard had an ad in the paper about a field artillery unit. He did not like the Army very much so he chose not to sign on for the reserves. His objective was to get an education and a job, and get married to start a family. He did not talk about his wartime experience because he figured everyone knew. In 1965, they hired a gardener. It was a guy in Japanese fatigues who showed up. Donovan was shocked and backed up into the kitchen. His wife had to tell him that it was okay. The man turned out to be a good gardener. The war helped him understand that people need their own space, but also need to live in harmony. The war solidified his feelings for equality. War makes everyone equal. They need to keep trying to keep the peace for all people.