Robert Knudson was born in January 1925 in Mason City, Iowa. His father was a successful greenhouse owner, and even prospered during the years of the Great Depression. Knudson was the third of three sons, all of whom served in the Navy during World War 2. One of the boys lost his life in the Pacific. Knudson remembers being on a Sunday visit to his brother's fraternity house when he heard the news on the radio of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Knudson commented that everyone in the United States was committed to winning the war. He got his draft notice in January 1943 while he was a senior in high school; when he graduated in June he made use of a political connection and enlisted in the Navy. Knudson was sent to Coeur d’Alene for boot camp, where he learned discipline, and the fact that he was colorblind. [Annotator's Note: The Farragut Naval Training Station was located in northern Idaho between Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint.] When he completed his initial training he was transferred to Norfolk and the Seabees. [Annotator's Note: The nickname Seabee is a heterograph of the first initials of two words from the title United States Naval Construction Battalions, the construction force of the U.S. Navy.]

Robert Knudson wasn't surprised, but was disappointed that his colorblindness disqualified him from being on a ship. He depicted his Seabee combat training as having occurred in the scullery, where he spent his time peeling potatoes. [Annotator's Note: Knudson chuckles.] He was transported on a Merchant Marine ship, and played a lot of cards during his voyage into the Pacific. He was not assigned to a unit until he landed in the Russell Islands where he became a part of the 11th Construction Battalion. The group was staging for the move up to the Admiralty Islands, building an enormous seaplane base and a refrigeration facility. The work was hot, long, and sometimes dirty, trucking and loading supplies. Most of the skilled guys in the Seabees were older tradesmen who drank too much and exposed him to what he described as "all sorts of evils." The relationship between the young officers and the experienced tradesmen was sometimes strained, but for the most part they got along.

Robert Knudson remembers the shellback ceremony when he crossed the equator as being theatrical and funny. He was transferred to the 4th Naval Construction Brigade, which was the headquarters of various Seabee units. [Annotator's Note: The nickname Seabee is a heterograph of the first initials of two words from the title United States Naval Construction Battalions, the construction force of the U.S. Navy.] Once he reached Manus, he likened the site to a city, with a variety of jobs. The island had been secured, so there wasn't much of a problem with the enemy, and although he knew there was a prisoner of war camp on a nearby island, Knudson never had an encounter with the Japanese. His real enemy was the mosquito. Despite a daily preventative dose of a generic form of quinine, Knudson contracted and was hospitalized for dengue fever. Sometime afterward he also contracted malaria, which he carried around for a couple of years and brought home with him. Knudson's two brothers were also serving in the Pacific, but he never intersected with them. One brother sent him a letter informing him that the other, a pilot flying missions off a destroyer, was reported missing. A year later it was presumed that he was killed in action, and he has never been found. Working around the compound, Knudson learned to operate bulldozers, cherry-pickers, and other equipment he'd never heard of before. He feels the work wasn't bad at all; being in the Seabees was amazing. They would scrape off an area, make a road, make a camp, build Quonset huts for officers and engineers, and erect tents with plywood floors for the enlisted men, whatever a group of 1,000 men might need to accomplish a project. Every essential Navy structure was built by the Seabees.

Robert Knudson doesn't remember the Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of naval construction battalions] at his level having a hierarchy. He went south from the Admiralties to New Caledonia, and "goofed off" there for months and months preparing to go to Okinawa. He lived with cooks, bakers and painters, who were notorious drinkers. He went to Noumea to the Australian beer garden and saw the catholic cathedral, but didn't wander very far. There were baseball games and bars and girls, something guys who had been away from civilization for a year-and-a-half could appreciate. After the invasion of Okinawa on 1 April [Annotator's Note: 1 April 1945], and once the island had cooled down enough for the Seabees to make the move, Knudson's unit [Annotator's Note: 4th Naval Construction Brigade] started the 2,000 mile journey, traveling 20 miles an hour, and got there in June 1945.

Robert Knudson was now with the 11th Brigade Headquarters Unit [Annotator's Note: 11th Naval Construction Brigade], another good job, building and doing maintenance work for the "blueprint" guys. He made one trip to the devastated city of Naha [Annotator's Note: Naha, Okinawa], and to the airport at Kadena to get materials. In August [Annotator's Note: August 1945] the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, and Knudson didn't have any problems with that decision. He was ready to go home but he didn't have enough points so he stayed on Okinawa until the fall. Things on the island didn't change much after the war was over; but Knudson had always found Okinawa amazing. It had become an enormous airfield, and a collection point for planes and ships from all over the world.

Leaving Okinawa, Robert Knudson shipped back to San Diego, California in the fall of 1945, then got a 30 day leave. His mother was glad that one of her sons was on American soil, and there was a lot of celebrating. At the time, his family was still hoping their missing soldier would come home. In the end, news of his demise was a great loss to the family and the community. [Annotator's Note: Knudson chokes up talking about how well loved he was.] Knudson still didn't have enough points for a discharge, and had to go back to San Diego to the small boats area. There he worked for a chief warrant officer who seemed to be trying to break the record for casting concrete ballast for ships, and gave the sailors a very difficult time. In March [Annotator's Note: March 1946] Knudson went by ship to Treasure Island, was discharged as a Seaman 2nd Class, and stayed in the San Diego area for a while. He gave no though to the Navy as a career, and went back to Iowa and used the G.I. Bill to get an education at Drake [Annotator's Note: Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa].

Robert Knudson's most memorable experience of World War 2 was being part of the Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of naval construction battalions], rather than in the "black shoe" Navy [Annotator's Note: "black shoes" refers to officers serving aboard naval vessels as opposed to serving in the aviation branch]. He was impressed with what that area of the service was able to accomplish. He was thrilled to have the opportunity to travel around the United States and the Pacific. He was gratified that young people he knew back home sent him letters and pictures. He admits that he served in World War 2 because he was drafted, and because he had two brothers who went before him into service, but recognizes the Navy changed his life in several beneficial ways. It made it possible for him to go to college through the G.I. Bill, and it taught him a great reverence for men who had to risk their all for their country. [Annotator's Note: Knudson chokes up.] At 92 years old, he still works every day. His service and survival are very important to him, and he often makes the comparison between himself and men who never had the experience, and finds them wanting. He believes America is better today because of the unity it gained from being totally committed to victory. His recent visit to The National WWII Museum was overwhelming. Knudson said it "stirred him from his toes to his head." He asserts that it is important to have such organizations because, sadly, there are many young people who are not learning about the war in schools, and if we don't remember what went on, it's possible it could happen again. He has no regrets about the time he spent in the Navy; it taught him a lot he didn't know as a young man like discipline, love of country and responsibility.