ROBERT OHNEMUS

By Josh Zhang, Jameson Root, and Morwan Osman

Robert ‘Bob’ Ohnemus was a survivor of Pearl Harbor.  He is one of the veterans of World War II, a war that claimed millions of lives and also caused much damage.  Along with many other lovers of the United States, believers of freedom from oppression, and people who had a passion for justice, Robert was in the armed forces, fighting and serving in the name of America.  And he survived the Pearl Harbor bombing - a date which, as Roosevelt said, “will live in infamy.”  His story will enlighten those of the younger generations and help us understand just what sacrifices people made for this country and for us.

Robert Ohnemus was born on September 18, 1916 in western South Dakota.  While growing up, he lived on a ranch fifteen miles from town and worked on the family farm.  As he grew older, the Great Depression swept the United States into poverty and hunger.  Amazingly, Robert’s family did not go hungry.  This was due to Robert’s father who took good care of the family.  But this is not to say that Robert and his family did not go without hardship.  A drought struck the area where Robert lived during the Great Depression, and his family had a hard time raising crops.  The family tried to raise chickens and sheep in addition to cattle, but there just wasn’t enough water.  Still, Robert and his family survived through the Great Depression without going hungry.

When war was stirring in Europe in the late 1930’s, Robert grew tired of working on farms.  There had to be some easier way to make a living, he thought, than assisting in farm work!  So, there was a choice for young Robert: either go to Alaska to make a living, or enlist in the Navy.  Robert thought that if he went to Alaska, he would be stuck there for a very long time.  The only other logical move was to join the Navy, so he officially enlisted early in 1939.

“To this day, I still believe that the Navy is the best service out there,” he says, “I’ve always had a soft spot for the Navy.” He started off training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.

The war at this point, around 1939-1940, did not directly involve the United States, so Robert didn’t really know what to think about the war.  People like Robert were young, having fun, doing their duty, and not caring about other people’s problems.  Later In 1939, Robert was chosen to serve on the U.S.S. Grebe, a converted minesweeper/tugboat.  Robert’s ship sailed to Honolulu in 1940, where it stayed for a couple of years.

Then came the day.  December 7^th, 1941.  The date that will live in infamy.  The day that inflamed the United States into entering World War II.  Pearl Harbor. 

It wasn’t a particularly special day at the beginning.  The Grebe  was on cold iron, without power, and Robert and a friend were doing laundry for themselves and twenty-five other people.  They were getting paid fifty cents per person for the job, which was a good deal back in 1941.  They had strung hot water lines to the dock and he was wringing out some clothes when he heard a big bang. 

"My first thought was that an ammunition magazine had blown up on another ship.  Then there were more explosions and some old sailor yelled, 'Japanese,' " Ohnemus recalls.

Then they saw it.  Everyone in Pearl Harbor saw it.  An enormous squadron of Japanese airplanes literally clouded the air like locusts, approaching Pearl Harbor fast. The steady humming of the plane engines filled many hearts with fear, but like most, Robert was more awe-struck than fear-struck.  His ship was located across from Ford Island where the famous battleship row was located and it was on that area the Japanese torpedo planes and high-level bombers concentrated, and where the USS Arizona still lies, overturned.

 Rushing along with other fellow sailors, Robert tried to get the USS Honolulu untied from the dock so she could get underway.  Then orders were issued to flee the area.  As the sailors were running for cover, an armor piercing bomb exploded along side of the Honolulu, damaging the dock next to it. 

That day nineteen ships were sunk or damaged, 2,403 Americans were killed, and 1,178 others wounded. 

After Pearl Harbor, during the fall of 1942, Robert headed south toward New Zealand on the USS Grebe.  They were trying to pull a merchant ship which had gotten caught on a reef.  The Grebe got caught on the reef as well and was lost.  The Grebe crew was assigned to an oil tanker, the USS Pasig, in New Caledonia.  The Pasig was used as a fuel dock for Navy ships as they began the battle northward toward the Japanese homeland.  From the USS Pasig Robert was sent to the East Coast, to the USS McCoy Reynolds.  He finished the rest of his six year enlistment doing picket duty off Okinawa, then was discharged in 1945.

Robert’s troubles were not over after the service.  He was in Portland, Oregon, but since there was a long strike there, no work was available for him, so he struck out for Kellogg, Idaho, where his brother worked in the mines.  Since Robert had gone to auto body school in Portland, he had some knowledge of automotive repair.  He stopped in all the areas along the way before he reached Kellogg, finally pulling into Pullman.  The next day after he arrived in Pullman, he started working in an auto body shop.  He worked there until he retired, from 1945 to 1981. 

To this day, Robert still reminisces about the war.  He remembers experiences he had on the ships. “Gets pretty wild out there, especially during those storms. You sailed nine months before you were back on land again!” He thinks that World War II was as justified as any war could possibly be.  But Robert Ohnemus' overall long-term view on war remains: “Foolish and devastating!”