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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015
Veteran: ‘We knew the war was over’
Continued from Page 1A
The campaign lasted until July
1945 — though the Manila Bay had
another battle coming.
Kamikaze attacks
An old photo of the Manila Bay
captured the VC-80 squadron posed
around a plane. Beck sits on the left
wing, his arms straight to his knees.
“I look pretty proper in the photo,”
Beck said. “And young. I think the
oldest guy was 25. He didn’t make it.”
The crew was standing on a met-
al plate, which blocked a hole from a
Japanese aircraft that dived onto the
deck loaded with explosives. A pole
protruding from the tower has a slight
bend, left from a suicide plane that
missed the ship and hit the ocean.
“I was where I shouldn’t have
been, right on the deck as they Àew
in,” Beck said.
U.S. attacker pilots took to the
sky too and the Japanese offense was
stalled. The ship lost 14 men and 52
were wounded. All of the carrier’s
radio men were killed and Beck was
trained to take their place.
On Jan. 17, the carrier headed back
to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
“We knew the war was over, it was
only a matter of time” Beck said. “We
could see the desperation of the Japa-
nese, those poor boys. For us, it was
back to waiting and playing cards.”
Printed fliers like this from Bob Beck’s collection were dropped over the Philippines in an effort to sap the morale of Japanese soldiers.
The American dream
Today, Beck plays Hearts on his
home computer. He lives on the same
street he grew up in a home he and his
wife, Eunice, built together.
The dining room is decorated with
Àowered wallpaper Eunice put up.
She died last year. Their bookshelf
holds titles like “500 Cakes” and
“Practical Problem Solver.”
The home embodies the Ameri-
can lifestyle the couple pulled around
themselves during the 1950s. They
were the generation whose fathers
fought against the Central Powers,
who fought against the Axis and
whose sons fought in Vietnam.
“We hoped this time it would mean
peace, you always do,” Beck said.
Asked about his dreams for life
after World War II, Beck laughed. “It
wasn’t about dreams,” he said. “I got
a job, hoped I hit it off with a lady —
I did — had kids and built a house.”
He put away his papers from war
and he reached for the TV remote.
“I hope we haven’t missed the
World Series — those guys have a
tough night up ahead.”
ABOVE: American soldiers
and sailors recapturing the
Philippines from the Japa-
nese in World War II carried
flags like this — with the
Philippines design on one
side and the U.S. flag on
the other — to help island-
ers make the connection
between American interven-
tion and the return of their
national sovereignty. LEFT:
American forces carried
simple graphic represen-
tations like this, both to
inspire the troops and reach
out to English-speaking
Filipinos.
Bob Beck
Courtesy Photos
CO M IN G IN FEBRUARY!
2016 ED ITIO N
of th e a w a rd-w in n in g publica tion from
th e publish ers of Coa st W eeken d
T h e on ly region a l
m a ga zin e focused on
just th e Colum bia -
P a cific region
“STORMS AREN’T SO SCARY WITH
FLASHLIGHTS, BLANKETS AND MOM.”
- Bobby
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