On December 7, 1941, a 16-year-old Robert (Bob) Bilhorn was in Chicago with his uncle when news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor came to him through the headline of the Chicago Tribune. “It struck me as somewhat momentous, but not anywhere near as much as it actually was. At that tender age, it’s a little hard to grasp.” Though the preoccupations of youth may have prevented Bob from fully realizing the magnitude of events on that infamous day, it would soon propel him and millions of others headlong into war. For Bob, though, that headlong advance would be marked by adventure.

On that cold and overcast day in Chicago when news of war passed through the city streets and the platforms of the “L,” Bob would return home to a father who was already too familiar with war. The son of a German immigrant, Bob’s father had served in the infantry as a German translator during the Great War. Given his fluency in the language of the dreaded Hun, Bob’s father was often sent in advance of the front with his superiors’ hopes of capturing a careless word spoken by the enemy, and on some occasions, the hopes of capturing a careless enemy.

For all the horrors of war witnessed by a caring father, their hard lessons would soon be put to use in January of 1943, and to the great benefit of both Bob and his brother. Wanting to spare his sons what he witnessed in the infantry, “Dad came along, grabbed my brother and me, and marched us down to the Navy office and said, ‘Sign these guys up,’” said Bob.

And with his father’s words, Bob’s adventure began at midshipman’s school at Cornell University. It was there that he was trained to be a First Division Officer and given the proper instruction to be both an officer and a sailor. In addition to a strict course in physical fitness, Bob was educated in all manner of Navy operations, including the use of a sextant and other navigational aides for plotting direction, estimating and monitoring fuel consumption, and recognition of enemy aircraft.

By the time Bob had completed Midshipman’s school, the tide of war in the Pacific had turned in favor of the Allies, thanks to the brave men that fought and died their way through the Philippines and the small islands and atolls of the Pacific Ocean. So it was that, when Bob was transported from Coronado, CA, to Pearl Harbor aboard an aircraft carrier and on to his first assignment serving on an AKA transport ship, the thrust of war in the Pacific had moved firmly in the direction of Japan. And, as McArthur and Nimitz began to plot a course for final victory in the Pacific Theatre, it was Bob and the men who served under him that helped move the troops, fuel, food and munitions across the submarine plagued highways of the Pacific Ocean.

Though the tide may have turned, the Pacific was far from the safety Bob’s father may have sought for his adventurous son. “I was up on the foredeck one day and an announcement came over the bridge, ‘Torpedo approaching the port side,’” said Bob. “So, I stood on my tiptoes and opened my mouth to equalize the pressure to have a chance of survival and waited and waited.” Though the torpedo passed harmlessly by, Bob couldn’t help but think what new adventures would have come his way had the torpedo found its mark. “When you’re in your teens, you’re immortal and invincible; you just don’t care,” said Bob.

As his days in the Pacific were noted for their adventure, so too did humor find its way onboard ship, but often at the expense of the troops that Bob and the rest of his First Division sailors carried as human cargo across the large, rolling swells of the Pacific Ocean. “My first division guys were kind of characters,” said Bob. “We had some Army guys aboard and a couple of my guys got a bucket and put it on deck. And the guy’s holding it and says, ‘Oh gosh, there’s a sea bass under here,’” continued Bob. “So they get the Army guys all lined up, and they’re all curious. ‘What’s a sea bass look like?’ And the Army guy bends over and my guy’s got a swab and he whaps him in the rear with it.” And so the hoax continued on as the next unsuspecting victim looked to have his first glimpse of a sea bass.

With the dropping of the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945, the war in the Pacific came to a close. And with that end, Bob came into contact with the Japanese people for the first time as he landed in a small fishing village on the inland sea. While they were his enemy during the war, Bob had an admiration for the Japanese people, though it took a few days for the Japanese to see through the propaganda and look favorably upon him. “You’d go into town and you saw nobody,” said Bob. “The second day we went in you would see a curtain move and somebody would peak out. By the third or fourth day, they realized that all Americans want to do is buy souvenirs. That little village had the biggest financial bonanza it had in the last two or three years!”

Upon returning from the war, Bob stayed in the Navy Reserves and joined the submarine service. On the GI Bill, Bob attended the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. After a successful business career, the influence of Bob’s great adventure in the Pacific never left him. “I think the Pacific is one of the most marvelous parts of the world,” said Bob. And with this admiration of the ocean that served as the foreground for his youth and the urge to return to its tranquil blue waters, Bob set off on the second great adventure in his life, some fifty years after completing the first.

From 1995-2000, Bob Bilhorn, First Division officer of the United States Navy during WWII, circumnavigated the globe in a 27’ cutter sailboat. Though he went by himself on this next great adventure, he was often in the company of other people along the way. For the first two years, he worked his way to Australia, and from there he traveled to Greece in the Mediterranean before sailing home.
During his return to the Pacific, he marveled at the kindness of the people that inhabited the many islands throughout the expansive ocean. “The single great impression I had is how friendly the people are everywhere,” said Bob.

And now, on August 10, Bob will embark on what we know will be the third great adventure in his life as he travels to Washington, D.C. to see the WWII Memorial as part of Honor Flight Chicago. Bob will not be alone on this next great adventure though, as he’ll be traveling with two fraternity brothers from college, one of which served in the Navy as did Bob, and the other of which served proudly in the Air Force. Thanks go to Bob and his fraternity brothers for their service during WWII. As is inscribed on the WWII Memorial, “Our debt to the Heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.” (Harry S. Truman)


P. Traeger
Honor Flight Chicago Volunteer

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