VETERANS DAY 143rd YEAR, No. 96 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015 ONE DOLLAR World War II veteran shares his story P By KATHERYN HOUGHTON EO Media Group AC,F,C C28NT< Wash ² Robert %eck never heard the e[plosion as he watched the À ames roll oII the ship and reÀ ect on the ocean ¶ A -apanese attacker pilot À ew overhead As Avenger radioman %eck belonged on a plane %ut he was stuck on a carrier ship trying to stay out oI the crew’s way as they countered the attack ¶ ³War was on it wasn’t something we talked about´ %eck said ³,t was Must something we did´ War’s logic Navy flier Bob Beck survived the War in the Pacific. ‘War was on, it wasn’t something we talked about. It was just something we did.’ Robert Beck 93-year-old WWII veteran %eck was a year into business school in 2lympia when the 8nited 6tates declared war on Germany %eing a soldier wasn’t a Mob title it was a cer- tainty 2ut oI %eck’s class oI men he said either enlisted or were draIted When %eck turned his Iather said it was time to enlist +is Iather had been on a ship in France when World War , ended ³+e said , was going no matter what and , didn’t want to end up like those poor guys in the trench- es´ %eck said ³We thought , should sign my name to the Navy like he did´ %eck boarded a train Ior Farragut ,daho Ior ba- sic training as a part oI the th company Every Iew months he moved to a diIIerent base +is training stopped at 3earl +arbor as crews assembled Ior the Iront lines ³There was a lot oI waiting around Must know- ing we were preparing Ior an invasion´ he said ³We watched as ships were built and knew where we were going´ The men Iocused on playing the card game ³+earts´ instead oI trying to predict what they would encounter overseas ,n -uly %eck was assigned to the carrier 866. 0anila %ay and the convoy headed to in- vade -apanese Iorces perched in the 3hilippines Philippines Campaign %eck watched soldiers unload on the shores Irom the sky The battle Ior the 3hilippines began in 2ctober ³, was right above Gen 0acArthur as he walked into the battle´ %eck said ³, was oI course too high up to tell who was who´ The movement looked like a wave Flashes oI light sparked Irom ships as gunners ¿ red toward enemy bases %eck peered out a circu- lar window about the size oI his head scanned the dark Iorests Ior enemy locations 3lanes dropped À iers over the land 6ome were in -apanese and declared the 86 and Filipinos had Moined Iorces Another had drawings oI troops run- ning onto shores and read ³The