1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:24,476 Speaker 1: Bushkin picture of Winter's Day in nineteen forty one. At 2 00:00:24,516 --> 00:00:28,276 Speaker 1: Willapa Valley High School, a pale stone building in the 3 00:00:28,316 --> 00:00:31,836 Speaker 1: little town of Menlo, nestled in the southwestern corner of 4 00:00:31,956 --> 00:00:36,716 Speaker 1: Washington State, Excitement was running high in the classrooms, more 5 00:00:36,756 --> 00:00:40,196 Speaker 1: than the usual amount of chatter. Was a Monday in December, 6 00:00:40,596 --> 00:00:43,716 Speaker 1: December eighth, to be exact, the day after Pearl Harbor, 7 00:00:44,436 --> 00:00:46,916 Speaker 1: there was a lot to talk about. The atmosphere was 8 00:00:46,956 --> 00:00:50,356 Speaker 1: thick with anticipation and fear. As the teachers urged the 9 00:00:50,396 --> 00:00:54,236 Speaker 1: students to settle down, a voice came across the PA system. 10 00:00:54,436 --> 00:00:57,956 Speaker 1: It was the school superintendent. The whole building leaned in 11 00:00:58,036 --> 00:01:02,596 Speaker 1: to hear him speak. It's official. He told them, We're 12 00:01:02,636 --> 00:01:07,316 Speaker 1: going to war. Robert Eugene Bush, a ninth grader with 13 00:01:07,396 --> 00:01:10,356 Speaker 1: a thick shock of dark hair at a somewhat devilish smile, 14 00:01:10,836 --> 00:01:14,836 Speaker 1: listened intently. He was too young to fight, just fifteen 15 00:01:14,876 --> 00:01:17,356 Speaker 1: years old, living at home with his mom and sister. 16 00:01:17,716 --> 00:01:20,356 Speaker 1: But in the months that followed he watched as friend 17 00:01:20,716 --> 00:01:24,676 Speaker 1: after friend left Willipa Valley to serve, and he mourned 18 00:01:24,716 --> 00:01:26,956 Speaker 1: with the rest of the little community when they got 19 00:01:26,996 --> 00:01:30,316 Speaker 1: the news that some of those teenage soldiers would never return. 20 00:01:31,156 --> 00:01:34,236 Speaker 1: So the moment Bob turned seventeen, the age when you 21 00:01:34,236 --> 00:01:38,796 Speaker 1: could enlist with parental permission, he joined the military. He 22 00:01:38,916 --> 00:01:42,716 Speaker 1: and another football player both signed up for the Navy Reserves. 23 00:01:43,796 --> 00:01:46,916 Speaker 1: He would be a medical specialist, a corman. Like so 24 00:01:46,996 --> 00:01:49,436 Speaker 1: many of the characters we'd met in this series, he 25 00:01:49,476 --> 00:01:52,956 Speaker 1: wanted to do something that would save lives, but he 26 00:01:52,996 --> 00:01:54,996 Speaker 1: had no real sense of what it was actually like 27 00:01:55,236 --> 00:01:58,356 Speaker 1: to be a corman in combat. He was a teenager, 28 00:01:58,676 --> 00:02:02,316 Speaker 1: caught up in the patriotic spirit, full of energy. He 29 00:02:02,396 --> 00:02:05,316 Speaker 1: made an impulsive decision that would change the shape of 30 00:02:05,356 --> 00:02:08,596 Speaker 1: his life, and just a handful of months later, Bob 31 00:02:08,636 --> 00:02:12,756 Speaker 1: would make another split second decision, one that would forever 32 00:02:12,836 --> 00:02:18,236 Speaker 1: change someone else's life too, him Malcolm Glawell. This is 33 00:02:18,316 --> 00:02:22,036 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor Stories of Courage. The Medal of Honor 34 00:02:22,116 --> 00:02:25,836 Speaker 1: is the highest military decoration in the United States, awarded 35 00:02:25,876 --> 00:02:29,476 Speaker 1: for gallantry and bravery in combat the risk of life, 36 00:02:29,596 --> 00:02:33,036 Speaker 1: above and beyond the call of duty. Each candidate must 37 00:02:33,116 --> 00:02:35,236 Speaker 1: be approved all the way up the chain of command, 38 00:02:35,516 --> 00:02:39,076 Speaker 1: from the supervisory officer in the field to the White House. 39 00:02:39,876 --> 00:02:43,756 Speaker 1: This show is about those heroes, what they did, what 40 00:02:43,876 --> 00:02:46,516 Speaker 1: it meant and what their stories tell us about the 41 00:02:46,596 --> 00:02:51,236 Speaker 1: nature of courage and sacrifice. Bob Bush would leave that 42 00:02:51,276 --> 00:02:54,276 Speaker 1: little town of Menlo, Washington, and by the age of eighteen, 43 00:02:54,556 --> 00:02:57,916 Speaker 1: he would find himself at the Battle of Okinawa, the 44 00:02:57,916 --> 00:03:02,716 Speaker 1: bloodiest and fiercest battlefield of the Pacific Theater. His story 45 00:03:03,156 --> 00:03:06,356 Speaker 1: is about bravery and heroism, but it's also the story 46 00:03:06,396 --> 00:03:10,076 Speaker 1: of a kid, one of the youngest recipisdiance of the 47 00:03:10,116 --> 00:03:13,436 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor. He wasn't the only kid at that battle, 48 00:03:13,796 --> 00:03:16,076 Speaker 1: and in this episode, I want to think about that, 49 00:03:16,636 --> 00:03:19,236 Speaker 1: what it means to send someone so young after fight, 50 00:03:19,716 --> 00:03:23,276 Speaker 1: How they forged lives for themselves after that service, how 51 00:03:23,276 --> 00:03:26,876 Speaker 1: it shaped them, what they learned. In a way, this 52 00:03:26,916 --> 00:03:31,876 Speaker 1: is a story about inheritance. Herbert Hoover famously said, older 53 00:03:31,876 --> 00:03:34,836 Speaker 1: men declare war, but it is youth that must fight 54 00:03:34,916 --> 00:03:38,716 Speaker 1: and die, And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, 55 00:03:39,356 --> 00:03:42,876 Speaker 1: the sorrow, and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war. 56 00:03:43,756 --> 00:03:54,916 Speaker 1: How do we reconcile those things. To get a sense 57 00:03:54,956 --> 00:03:56,916 Speaker 1: of why Bob Bush went to war as young as 58 00:03:56,916 --> 00:03:59,116 Speaker 1: he did, you have to know a little bit about 59 00:03:59,116 --> 00:04:02,796 Speaker 1: his family situation. He was brought up by a tough 60 00:04:02,876 --> 00:04:05,116 Speaker 1: and hard working Irish Catholic mom. 61 00:04:05,796 --> 00:04:08,636 Speaker 2: I was raised by my mother, a single parent who 62 00:04:08,716 --> 00:04:13,036 Speaker 2: was a registered nurse, and during the course of my upbringing, 63 00:04:13,756 --> 00:04:16,076 Speaker 2: my sister and I lived in the hospital that she 64 00:04:16,276 --> 00:04:18,476 Speaker 2: ran in a small lumbering town. 65 00:04:19,476 --> 00:04:22,436 Speaker 1: He watched his mother tend to patience and take care 66 00:04:22,476 --> 00:04:25,796 Speaker 1: of her family as best she could. But Bob to 67 00:04:25,836 --> 00:04:27,636 Speaker 1: hear him tell, it was a handful. 68 00:04:28,156 --> 00:04:31,716 Speaker 2: I had an unruly life, you might say, because of 69 00:04:31,756 --> 00:04:34,556 Speaker 2: the lack of a father, but that put a little 70 00:04:34,596 --> 00:04:35,476 Speaker 2: chip on my shoulder. 71 00:04:36,196 --> 00:04:39,556 Speaker 1: He played football for the team at his tiny high school, Willipa, 72 00:04:39,916 --> 00:04:42,716 Speaker 1: only had about twenty five kids per grade. He had 73 00:04:42,756 --> 00:04:46,916 Speaker 1: a girlfriend, an adorable blonde named Wanda spoot Well. Wanda 74 00:04:46,956 --> 00:04:49,876 Speaker 1: had two boyfriends, both vining to go steady with her. 75 00:04:50,236 --> 00:04:54,196 Speaker 1: He kept Bob on his toes. But humming underneath all 76 00:04:54,236 --> 00:04:57,556 Speaker 1: of these small town teenage goings on was the war. 77 00:04:58,476 --> 00:05:01,436 Speaker 1: It was happening thousands of miles away, but it felt 78 00:05:01,476 --> 00:05:04,836 Speaker 1: personal to Bob. He knew all those friends and teammates 79 00:05:05,076 --> 00:05:06,236 Speaker 1: who were going off to fight. 80 00:05:07,156 --> 00:05:11,036 Speaker 2: I lived in the community that had sixty seven young 81 00:05:11,116 --> 00:05:15,236 Speaker 2: man killed in World War Two, and the total population 82 00:05:15,836 --> 00:05:19,356 Speaker 2: was less than ten thousand and always young men. They 83 00:05:19,356 --> 00:05:22,196 Speaker 2: came from my schools. The full back on our football 84 00:05:22,236 --> 00:05:24,516 Speaker 2: team died on the Bataan death Marks. 85 00:05:25,396 --> 00:05:29,036 Speaker 1: As his seventeenth birthday approached, he started thinking about getting 86 00:05:29,036 --> 00:05:31,516 Speaker 1: out there with them. He would have to ask his 87 00:05:31,556 --> 00:05:35,116 Speaker 1: mother's permission to enlist that young but his mom, as 88 00:05:35,116 --> 00:05:37,276 Speaker 1: I mentioned, was a no nonsense lady. 89 00:05:38,076 --> 00:05:41,276 Speaker 2: I was in the third year of high school and 90 00:05:41,516 --> 00:05:44,236 Speaker 2: my mother said, Bobby, you're not the smartest kid in 91 00:05:44,276 --> 00:05:49,236 Speaker 2: the class. And I kind of chuckled, so I said, well, 92 00:05:49,436 --> 00:05:52,276 Speaker 2: maybe I'll go in the service. Her feeling was that 93 00:05:52,596 --> 00:05:54,596 Speaker 2: if I wanted to go, that was fine, and my 94 00:05:54,956 --> 00:05:58,396 Speaker 2: feeling was that we were in a war, so I 95 00:05:58,436 --> 00:05:59,636 Speaker 2: could go out there and I could make it a 96 00:05:59,636 --> 00:06:00,316 Speaker 2: little difference. 97 00:06:00,996 --> 00:06:04,036 Speaker 1: I can imagine his mother staring into the deep set 98 00:06:04,036 --> 00:06:07,676 Speaker 1: eyes of her only son, thinking, maybe this will be 99 00:06:07,716 --> 00:06:11,676 Speaker 1: the thing that gives him responsible ability structure. She must 100 00:06:11,716 --> 00:06:15,196 Speaker 1: have been filled with equal parts hope and terror. Wouldn't 101 00:06:15,236 --> 00:06:19,356 Speaker 1: any parent feel that way. Bob certainly wasn't worried. He 102 00:06:19,396 --> 00:06:23,796 Speaker 1: was a teenage boy. They feel invincible, blindly optimistic. He 103 00:06:23,876 --> 00:06:26,116 Speaker 1: was running on adrenaline and a testosterone. 104 00:06:26,476 --> 00:06:29,876 Speaker 2: I just thinking about this would be an adventure. Of 105 00:06:29,876 --> 00:06:32,356 Speaker 2: course you're looking for fun. Seventeen. 106 00:06:33,516 --> 00:06:36,276 Speaker 1: In the late fall of nineteen forty three, Bob and 107 00:06:36,316 --> 00:06:39,156 Speaker 1: a friend from his football team went to enlist together. 108 00:06:39,756 --> 00:06:42,116 Speaker 1: They both chose the Naval Reserves. 109 00:06:42,476 --> 00:06:47,636 Speaker 2: The Navy was always my service of choice, and also 110 00:06:47,716 --> 00:06:49,396 Speaker 2: I thought, well, if I go on the Navy, I 111 00:06:49,396 --> 00:06:52,636 Speaker 2: can sleep in clean sheets every night. Well it didn't 112 00:06:52,636 --> 00:06:54,796 Speaker 2: work out that way, but that was my plan. And 113 00:06:54,836 --> 00:06:58,516 Speaker 2: then by living in the hospital and having jobs to 114 00:06:58,556 --> 00:07:02,436 Speaker 2: do in hospital, and decided that the Medical Corps might 115 00:07:02,476 --> 00:07:03,236 Speaker 2: be for me. 116 00:07:04,116 --> 00:07:07,396 Speaker 1: His medical training with the Navy Hospital Corps lasted less 117 00:07:07,436 --> 00:07:09,996 Speaker 1: than a year before he was sent to Camp Pendleton 118 00:07:10,076 --> 00:07:13,196 Speaker 1: in California to join a Marine battalion as their corman. 119 00:07:13,716 --> 00:07:15,716 Speaker 1: There he learned to handle weapons. 120 00:07:16,076 --> 00:07:19,756 Speaker 2: When you're talking about rising guns and Thompson submachine guns 121 00:07:19,756 --> 00:07:23,796 Speaker 2: and air cool machine guns and water cool machine guns 122 00:07:23,836 --> 00:07:27,556 Speaker 2: and drowning automatic rifles and him one rifles, I mean, 123 00:07:27,596 --> 00:07:31,236 Speaker 2: these are big stuff for a kid seventeen years old. 124 00:07:31,996 --> 00:07:34,916 Speaker 1: You can still hear it in his voice, the excitement 125 00:07:34,956 --> 00:07:37,076 Speaker 1: of a kid with a bunch of fun new toys. 126 00:07:37,636 --> 00:07:40,556 Speaker 1: But this training also drove home the point that he 127 00:07:40,596 --> 00:07:44,156 Speaker 1: wouldn't just be saving lives. He might be taking them too. 128 00:07:45,396 --> 00:07:47,756 Speaker 1: That became all the more clear a few months after 129 00:07:47,796 --> 00:07:50,396 Speaker 1: his eighteenth birthday, when he got on a ship with 130 00:07:50,436 --> 00:07:54,956 Speaker 1: the rest of his battalion. They were headed to Okinawa, Japan. 131 00:07:57,756 --> 00:08:01,556 Speaker 1: Okinawa is one of the Ryuk Islands, located southwest of 132 00:08:01,556 --> 00:08:04,916 Speaker 1: the Japanese mainland. The Allies saw it as a lynchpin 133 00:08:04,996 --> 00:08:07,836 Speaker 1: to the war in the Pacific, which by nineteen forty 134 00:08:07,836 --> 00:08:11,836 Speaker 1: five had been dragging on for nearly four years. Okinawa 135 00:08:11,956 --> 00:08:14,436 Speaker 1: would give the Allies an air base close enough to 136 00:08:14,476 --> 00:08:18,316 Speaker 1: bomb the Japanese home islands, plus an ideal place to 137 00:08:18,396 --> 00:08:22,996 Speaker 1: station the Allied naval fleet, and possibly even plan and 138 00:08:23,116 --> 00:08:25,236 Speaker 1: invasion of the Japanese homeland. 139 00:08:25,356 --> 00:08:29,196 Speaker 3: Okinawa will provide an offensive base against Formosa, the China coast, 140 00:08:29,436 --> 00:08:33,796 Speaker 3: or Japan itself, only three hundred and sixty five miles away. 141 00:08:33,956 --> 00:08:36,836 Speaker 1: Okinawa hadn't always been a part of the Japanese Empire. 142 00:08:37,156 --> 00:08:39,636 Speaker 1: It was only an ex in the late nineteenth century. 143 00:08:40,076 --> 00:08:43,436 Speaker 1: Many Japanese considered the people of Okinawa to be inferior, 144 00:08:43,996 --> 00:08:47,596 Speaker 1: second class citizens of the Empire. Once the war began, 145 00:08:47,876 --> 00:08:51,076 Speaker 1: the Okinawans had been pressured to prove their worthiness to 146 00:08:51,116 --> 00:08:54,556 Speaker 1: the Japanese cause, so they had been pressed into service. 147 00:08:55,196 --> 00:08:59,516 Speaker 1: Adult men joined the Japanese Army or the local defense Corps. 148 00:08:59,636 --> 00:09:03,396 Speaker 1: Some two thousand high school students were drafted to The 149 00:09:03,476 --> 00:09:06,356 Speaker 1: boys went into the Blood and Iron Student Corps and 150 00:09:06,396 --> 00:09:09,836 Speaker 1: were ready to fight. The girls became nurses members of 151 00:09:09,836 --> 00:09:14,356 Speaker 1: the Himiurikorps. Some were as young as fifteen. In other 152 00:09:14,396 --> 00:09:17,556 Speaker 1: battles of the Pacific, civilians weren't part of the action. 153 00:09:17,996 --> 00:09:22,076 Speaker 1: Gauadalcanal had been a military base, and the civilian population 154 00:09:22,396 --> 00:09:27,196 Speaker 1: on Iwojima had been evacuated before that battle began, But 155 00:09:27,276 --> 00:09:30,756 Speaker 1: in the spring of nineteen forty five, almost five hundred 156 00:09:30,756 --> 00:09:34,516 Speaker 1: thousand civilians were living on Okinawa. They would be in 157 00:09:34,556 --> 00:09:40,596 Speaker 1: the middle of whatever conflict was to come. On April first, 158 00:09:41,156 --> 00:09:45,516 Speaker 1: Easter Sunday. It came that morning. Bob Bush was on 159 00:09:45,556 --> 00:09:49,156 Speaker 1: the first wave of transport boats. Everyone in the American 160 00:09:49,196 --> 00:09:53,076 Speaker 1: fleet knew what this kind of invasion looked like. Normandy 161 00:09:53,356 --> 00:09:56,876 Speaker 1: had happened the previous summer, Ewojima had just been the 162 00:09:56,916 --> 00:09:59,956 Speaker 1: month before. In both cases, the Allies had faced an 163 00:10:00,036 --> 00:10:03,836 Speaker 1: enemy with dug in defenses. The Americans had been mowed 164 00:10:03,876 --> 00:10:07,396 Speaker 1: down just as quickly as they landed for Okinawa. The 165 00:10:07,436 --> 00:10:13,396 Speaker 1: command expected and eighty percent casualty rate at minimum. 166 00:10:13,716 --> 00:10:17,156 Speaker 2: The night before, we were told that the entire first division, 167 00:10:17,196 --> 00:10:21,036 Speaker 2: the first Marine Division, was expendable. That means that we're 168 00:10:21,076 --> 00:10:25,436 Speaker 2: going to lose everybody, and that really didn't make for 169 00:10:25,476 --> 00:10:26,396 Speaker 2: a happy camper. 170 00:10:27,556 --> 00:10:30,276 Speaker 1: As the sun rose on that Easter morning, Bob and 171 00:10:30,316 --> 00:10:32,876 Speaker 1: the rest of his company and marines looked out on 172 00:10:32,996 --> 00:10:36,076 Speaker 1: what would be the largest amphibious assault ever mounted in 173 00:10:36,116 --> 00:10:40,316 Speaker 1: the Pacific. There were fifteen hundred ships and half a 174 00:10:40,316 --> 00:10:44,956 Speaker 1: million men. About sixty thousand would go ashore on that 175 00:10:44,996 --> 00:10:45,556 Speaker 1: first day. 176 00:10:45,836 --> 00:10:48,076 Speaker 2: As far as you could see, there were ships. And 177 00:10:48,116 --> 00:10:50,716 Speaker 2: I gave you a certain amount of confidence when you 178 00:10:50,716 --> 00:10:55,116 Speaker 2: could see this amount of transports and aircraft carriers and 179 00:10:55,196 --> 00:11:00,156 Speaker 2: battleships and unit cruisers and just innumerable amount of them. 180 00:11:00,236 --> 00:11:01,876 Speaker 2: And so we thought, well, there's going to be a 181 00:11:01,916 --> 00:11:02,556 Speaker 2: piece of cake. 182 00:11:03,596 --> 00:11:06,876 Speaker 1: The troop transports skipped across the surf towards the island. 183 00:11:07,476 --> 00:11:10,476 Speaker 1: As land got closer, Bob was filled with dread. 184 00:11:11,156 --> 00:11:14,196 Speaker 2: I noticed that our boat was a boat length in 185 00:11:14,236 --> 00:11:17,436 Speaker 2: front of everybody else, and I told the squad leader 186 00:11:17,876 --> 00:11:20,116 Speaker 2: stand next to me, I said, why don't you tell 187 00:11:20,196 --> 00:11:22,396 Speaker 2: him to slow this thing down. We don't need to 188 00:11:22,436 --> 00:11:23,476 Speaker 2: be the first one there. 189 00:11:25,596 --> 00:11:28,156 Speaker 1: But when the men landed on the island, there was 190 00:11:28,676 --> 00:11:34,956 Speaker 1: weirdly nothing, no barrage of fire, no hailstorm of motor shells. 191 00:11:35,636 --> 00:11:37,716 Speaker 2: There wasn't a shot fire on the beach. 192 00:11:38,316 --> 00:11:42,396 Speaker 1: It was eerily quiet. It seemed so easy, But that 193 00:11:42,476 --> 00:11:45,356 Speaker 1: peaceful landing hit a horrible secret. 194 00:11:45,916 --> 00:11:49,636 Speaker 2: The Japanese had elected to let us on board and 195 00:11:49,676 --> 00:11:51,276 Speaker 2: then nail us after we got there. 196 00:11:52,156 --> 00:11:55,076 Speaker 1: They would wait and let the Allied forces work their 197 00:11:55,116 --> 00:11:55,876 Speaker 1: way inland. 198 00:11:56,356 --> 00:11:56,596 Speaker 2: There. 199 00:11:56,636 --> 00:12:00,876 Speaker 1: The terrain gave the Japanese troops an extraordinary advantage. The 200 00:12:00,916 --> 00:12:03,196 Speaker 1: island was covered in ridge lines, and each one of 201 00:12:03,236 --> 00:12:07,396 Speaker 1: those was poked with concrete tombs, bunkers, and dozens of 202 00:12:07,476 --> 00:12:11,156 Speaker 1: volcanic caves. They could pick the Americans off from the 203 00:12:11,236 --> 00:12:15,596 Speaker 1: high ground. The Japanese soldiers also used the caves as 204 00:12:15,676 --> 00:12:20,316 Speaker 1: foxholes and living spaces. They turned him into hospitals. That's 205 00:12:20,356 --> 00:12:23,556 Speaker 1: where the teenage nurses in the himiurikorps were sent to work. 206 00:12:24,116 --> 00:12:28,956 Speaker 1: So civilians were often indistinguishable from the enemy. Bob learned 207 00:12:28,996 --> 00:12:32,036 Speaker 1: that on his very first day in Okinawa. In fact, 208 00:12:32,356 --> 00:12:35,476 Speaker 1: the first war casualty he saw was a civilian. 209 00:12:36,156 --> 00:12:40,436 Speaker 2: We had a Japanese person run across in front of us, 210 00:12:40,836 --> 00:12:44,196 Speaker 2: and of course we were all trigger happy, and the 211 00:12:44,636 --> 00:12:50,316 Speaker 2: platoon leader ordered him shot, although he wasn't threatening us 212 00:12:50,356 --> 00:12:52,796 Speaker 2: at that point. I checked the guy and he didn't 213 00:12:52,836 --> 00:12:54,196 Speaker 2: have a soldier uniform on. 214 00:12:54,956 --> 00:12:58,996 Speaker 1: The American who killed him was a rifleman named Clyde Petty, who, 215 00:12:59,036 --> 00:13:03,156 Speaker 1: by total coincidence, would also die just hours later. Bob 216 00:13:03,236 --> 00:13:05,756 Speaker 1: saw it happen and tried to save him. 217 00:13:05,676 --> 00:13:09,556 Speaker 2: And I went to Petty's support, and he was and 218 00:13:09,596 --> 00:13:12,396 Speaker 2: I left lunge. I'm out there working on this guy. 219 00:13:12,956 --> 00:13:15,276 Speaker 2: And as soon as I got him that I knew 220 00:13:15,316 --> 00:13:19,236 Speaker 2: I was in trouble. I just scared the hell out 221 00:13:19,276 --> 00:13:21,036 Speaker 2: of me, really, and I looked up and I could 222 00:13:21,036 --> 00:13:25,836 Speaker 2: look into a twenty five caliber Japanese Bold Action rifle. 223 00:13:26,316 --> 00:13:29,116 Speaker 2: I was close enough to see that he was pointing 224 00:13:29,116 --> 00:13:30,156 Speaker 2: that thing right at me. 225 00:13:31,156 --> 00:13:34,836 Speaker 1: Bob was in the crosshairs, but somehow he was still 226 00:13:34,876 --> 00:13:38,156 Speaker 1: able to retreat to safety. He couldn't figure out what 227 00:13:38,236 --> 00:13:39,956 Speaker 1: kept the sniper from shooting at him. 228 00:13:40,356 --> 00:13:44,836 Speaker 2: We found out later that before we got to them, 229 00:13:45,156 --> 00:13:48,636 Speaker 2: a woman came out of that same cave and picked 230 00:13:48,716 --> 00:13:51,996 Speaker 2: up a Japanese soldier that we'd shot and pulled him 231 00:13:52,036 --> 00:13:55,836 Speaker 2: back in and while the woman came out, we didn't 232 00:13:55,876 --> 00:13:59,756 Speaker 2: fire on her because she was giving medical attention to him. 233 00:14:00,076 --> 00:14:03,076 Speaker 1: It seemed like the two sides had some kind of understanding. 234 00:14:03,556 --> 00:14:06,596 Speaker 1: The US soldiers didn't shoot the female medic who emerged 235 00:14:06,596 --> 00:14:09,636 Speaker 1: from the cave, who was most likely of the girls 236 00:14:09,636 --> 00:14:13,556 Speaker 1: from the Himayuri Nursing Corps, and the Japanese snipers didn't 237 00:14:13,596 --> 00:14:16,876 Speaker 1: shoot at Bob For at least a moment on that 238 00:14:16,956 --> 00:14:20,076 Speaker 1: first day of fighting, the teenaged medics on both sides 239 00:14:20,076 --> 00:14:23,716 Speaker 1: of the conflict must have felt safe, maybe still full 240 00:14:23,796 --> 00:14:27,516 Speaker 1: of that youthful exuberance and hope. But that was just 241 00:14:27,596 --> 00:14:30,956 Speaker 1: the first day, and both the Japanese command and the 242 00:14:30,996 --> 00:14:36,396 Speaker 1: Allies had already decided everyone on the island was expendable. 243 00:14:50,756 --> 00:14:54,036 Speaker 1: May nineteen forty five, the Battle of Okinawa had been 244 00:14:54,036 --> 00:14:57,956 Speaker 1: going on for a month. It was proceeding exactly as 245 00:14:57,956 --> 00:15:02,076 Speaker 1: the Japanese had planned, a war of attrition, with casualties 246 00:15:02,156 --> 00:15:06,196 Speaker 1: ticking up on both sides and a resolution desperately out 247 00:15:06,196 --> 00:15:06,596 Speaker 1: of reach. 248 00:15:07,396 --> 00:15:11,196 Speaker 3: Campaign to win Okinawa soon developed into a desperate and 249 00:15:11,236 --> 00:15:15,836 Speaker 3: prolonged struggle. And you were both caves and hidden pill boxes, Honeycomb, 250 00:15:15,916 --> 00:15:19,556 Speaker 3: the island ridges, the Yanks cannot advance until every cave 251 00:15:19,636 --> 00:15:22,076 Speaker 3: is filed and every pill box smashed. 252 00:15:23,436 --> 00:15:28,636 Speaker 1: It was a crushing, demoralizing battle, constant bombardment from artillery 253 00:15:28,676 --> 00:15:32,476 Speaker 1: and mortars, the smell of death everywhere. Thousands of bodies 254 00:15:32,556 --> 00:15:37,556 Speaker 1: American military, Japanese soldiers, local civilians lay where they had fallen. 255 00:15:38,236 --> 00:15:42,036 Speaker 2: You have to be almost walking over them because there's 256 00:15:42,036 --> 00:15:43,276 Speaker 2: so many of them that are dead. 257 00:15:43,836 --> 00:15:46,396 Speaker 1: And the Americans had to grapple with the grim realization 258 00:15:46,836 --> 00:15:50,916 Speaker 1: that Okinawan families and children were being caught in the crossfire. 259 00:15:51,556 --> 00:15:55,036 Speaker 1: Bob remembers how hard it was to differentiate between the 260 00:15:55,156 --> 00:15:58,316 Speaker 1: enemy and the terrified, starving civilians. 261 00:15:58,716 --> 00:16:00,756 Speaker 2: If somebody comes out and hungry, they fed them. If 262 00:16:00,756 --> 00:16:04,516 Speaker 2: they come out and they needed medically, we wouldn't usually 263 00:16:04,676 --> 00:16:08,676 Speaker 2: fire on anybody unless they fired on us first. I mean, 264 00:16:08,756 --> 00:16:11,356 Speaker 2: if they had a weapon that was even pointed vaguely 265 00:16:11,716 --> 00:16:14,796 Speaker 2: toward us, so they got it. But if they weren't firing, 266 00:16:14,956 --> 00:16:15,636 Speaker 2: then we didn't. 267 00:16:16,356 --> 00:16:19,516 Speaker 1: Bob's days were nothing like the wild adventure that he'd 268 00:16:19,636 --> 00:16:22,596 Speaker 1: envision back home in Menlo. It was just a long, 269 00:16:23,156 --> 00:16:26,956 Speaker 1: rainy slog, forcing the men in his company to take 270 00:16:26,996 --> 00:16:30,676 Speaker 1: their malaria medicine, which everyone hated eating beans out of 271 00:16:30,716 --> 00:16:34,196 Speaker 1: a can. But he felt like his marines were watching 272 00:16:34,196 --> 00:16:37,236 Speaker 1: out for him, which of course they were. He might 273 00:16:37,276 --> 00:16:39,916 Speaker 1: have only been eighteen, but he was the first line 274 00:16:39,956 --> 00:16:41,996 Speaker 1: of medical care on the battlefield. 275 00:16:42,436 --> 00:16:46,316 Speaker 2: We knew how expendable we were, and everybody kept their 276 00:16:46,396 --> 00:16:49,436 Speaker 2: cool and they kept fighting, and they just did a 277 00:16:49,436 --> 00:16:52,316 Speaker 2: beautiful job of keeping us protected to. 278 00:16:53,796 --> 00:16:56,676 Speaker 1: Thirty two days into the invasion, on the day that 279 00:16:56,796 --> 00:17:00,316 Speaker 1: changed the course of Bob Bush's life, it became clear 280 00:17:00,436 --> 00:17:03,196 Speaker 1: that really no one was safe. 281 00:17:04,036 --> 00:17:07,716 Speaker 2: The morning of May second, nineteen forty five, it was 282 00:17:07,756 --> 00:17:12,876 Speaker 2: a typical morning of fighting on Okinawa. Our patoon leader, 283 00:17:13,556 --> 00:17:17,836 Speaker 2: Lieutenant James Roach, elected to make the statement that he 284 00:17:17,876 --> 00:17:20,836 Speaker 2: would take a squad of men because our mission that 285 00:17:20,956 --> 00:17:23,716 Speaker 2: day was to take a certain hill by eight thirty 286 00:17:23,756 --> 00:17:26,916 Speaker 2: in the morning. Well, my feeling was he should have 287 00:17:26,996 --> 00:17:29,836 Speaker 2: taken the whole team down or to fight that hill, 288 00:17:30,076 --> 00:17:34,156 Speaker 2: rather than take one squad of nineteen men out on 289 00:17:34,196 --> 00:17:36,996 Speaker 2: a hill and do the things that he did. But 290 00:17:37,236 --> 00:17:39,836 Speaker 2: that was his decision. So that left two thirds of 291 00:17:39,876 --> 00:17:42,916 Speaker 2: our people up on the ridge looking so they could 292 00:17:42,956 --> 00:17:45,116 Speaker 2: see everything that was going on. I was like a theater, 293 00:17:45,716 --> 00:17:47,636 Speaker 2: and we set up our machine guns up on the 294 00:17:47,716 --> 00:17:50,516 Speaker 2: hill and He went down with his nineteen men down 295 00:17:50,556 --> 00:17:53,716 Speaker 2: through the ravine and got to the base of the hill, 296 00:17:54,036 --> 00:17:55,356 Speaker 2: and all hill broke loose. 297 00:17:56,316 --> 00:17:59,356 Speaker 1: The nineteen men, with Jim Roach at the lead, were 298 00:17:59,396 --> 00:18:04,636 Speaker 1: immediately surrounded by Japanese troops. They were massively outnumbered. Bob 299 00:18:04,716 --> 00:18:06,876 Speaker 1: was up in the ridge watching it all happen. 300 00:18:07,516 --> 00:18:10,836 Speaker 2: Where the hell they came from? Nobody. But in the meantime, 301 00:18:11,276 --> 00:18:15,756 Speaker 2: Jim Roach got hit and the platoon sergeant said, well, 302 00:18:16,156 --> 00:18:18,556 Speaker 2: Roach is hit out there. What are you thinking. Well, 303 00:18:18,796 --> 00:18:22,196 Speaker 2: the rules of the road where the Navy coremans are 304 00:18:22,236 --> 00:18:24,756 Speaker 2: that if you're going to threaten your own life to 305 00:18:24,796 --> 00:18:28,156 Speaker 2: go out and get him, you're better off to reserve 306 00:18:28,276 --> 00:18:31,116 Speaker 2: that because you got fifty seven war men to take 307 00:18:31,156 --> 00:18:34,196 Speaker 2: care of. And I never adhered too much to that, 308 00:18:34,316 --> 00:18:36,796 Speaker 2: but that was the rule, that was the teaching. 309 00:18:37,676 --> 00:18:40,596 Speaker 1: Bob had to make a split second decision. Should he 310 00:18:40,636 --> 00:18:42,756 Speaker 1: put his own life in danger to go to Roach 311 00:18:42,876 --> 00:18:46,196 Speaker 1: down in the ravine. He wasn't supposed to risk everything 312 00:18:46,236 --> 00:18:49,756 Speaker 1: for one person, but he was sure Roach was alive, 313 00:18:50,396 --> 00:18:52,076 Speaker 1: maybe not for much longer. 314 00:18:52,236 --> 00:18:53,996 Speaker 2: So I said, I can get out there to him. 315 00:18:54,196 --> 00:18:56,836 Speaker 2: I ran across the field rapidly and I got to 316 00:18:56,916 --> 00:19:00,676 Speaker 2: him in a foxhole in a shell hole. I took 317 00:19:00,716 --> 00:19:03,916 Speaker 2: a can of albumum, which is a blood plasma, because 318 00:19:03,916 --> 00:19:07,756 Speaker 2: his eyes were dilating and he was slipping away. I said, Jim, 319 00:19:08,036 --> 00:19:10,196 Speaker 2: you're in good shape. Can see that. We're going to 320 00:19:10,236 --> 00:19:11,676 Speaker 2: fix you right up, and we're going to get you 321 00:19:11,716 --> 00:19:13,876 Speaker 2: out of here. So I got him going with a IV. 322 00:19:14,676 --> 00:19:17,956 Speaker 2: And then I looked up on the hill and not 323 00:19:18,556 --> 00:19:21,996 Speaker 2: thirty feet away I saw a Japanese head, a superior 324 00:19:22,076 --> 00:19:23,676 Speaker 2: private with a helmet. 325 00:19:24,796 --> 00:19:27,716 Speaker 1: Bob was holding the blood plasma high up with one 326 00:19:27,716 --> 00:19:30,756 Speaker 1: hand so that it would flow into the IV. With 327 00:19:30,876 --> 00:19:34,996 Speaker 1: his other hand, he started grasping for Roach's rifle, all 328 00:19:35,076 --> 00:19:38,036 Speaker 1: the while refusing to let that can of plasma drop. 329 00:19:38,916 --> 00:19:42,156 Speaker 2: I was feeling for his carbing, because I know my 330 00:19:42,276 --> 00:19:44,916 Speaker 2: forty five that's in my shoulder rolls to you. It 331 00:19:44,956 --> 00:19:48,076 Speaker 2: won't work too well when you're trying to get a target. 332 00:19:48,276 --> 00:19:51,676 Speaker 1: The enemy's soldier was taking aim, but Bob grabbed the 333 00:19:51,756 --> 00:19:54,876 Speaker 1: rifle with one hand, raised it and pulled off the 334 00:19:54,876 --> 00:20:00,196 Speaker 1: first shot, still holding the plasma, still tending to Roach. 335 00:20:00,676 --> 00:20:03,196 Speaker 2: And then another head came up. 336 00:20:03,836 --> 00:20:06,636 Speaker 1: Bob swung the gun around and fired again. 337 00:20:07,396 --> 00:20:10,596 Speaker 2: Another head. I don't know what I was thinking. About, 338 00:20:10,636 --> 00:20:12,836 Speaker 2: but I was thinking one thing that if they're going 339 00:20:12,916 --> 00:20:14,836 Speaker 2: to take me, by God, they're going to pay the bill. 340 00:20:15,996 --> 00:20:20,276 Speaker 2: By that time, I had Jim Roach kind of coming around. 341 00:20:20,356 --> 00:20:23,276 Speaker 2: He had a bad shoulder injury, and if we put 342 00:20:23,356 --> 00:20:26,556 Speaker 2: compresses on it, and I did, I got him kind 343 00:20:26,556 --> 00:20:28,836 Speaker 2: of going in a manner that we could get him 344 00:20:28,836 --> 00:20:29,836 Speaker 2: off the battlefield. 345 00:20:30,876 --> 00:20:34,076 Speaker 1: The Marines brought Jim Roach up to safety, but Bob 346 00:20:34,196 --> 00:20:37,196 Speaker 1: was still stuck down in the ravine, and those shots 347 00:20:37,636 --> 00:20:38,636 Speaker 1: had drawn more attention. 348 00:20:39,396 --> 00:20:42,076 Speaker 2: The Japanese looked down and saw me there, and they 349 00:20:42,076 --> 00:20:44,836 Speaker 2: threw hand grenade down. As soon as that came down, 350 00:20:45,196 --> 00:20:48,396 Speaker 2: I threw my arm up like that and it protected 351 00:20:48,436 --> 00:20:51,036 Speaker 2: my left eye, but I lost my right eye, and 352 00:20:51,036 --> 00:20:52,716 Speaker 2: he hit me with three hand grenades. 353 00:20:55,076 --> 00:20:58,156 Speaker 1: Three grenades one would have been enough to kill him, 354 00:20:58,356 --> 00:21:01,316 Speaker 1: but he was unbelievably lucky. Yes, he had shoppnel in 355 00:21:01,356 --> 00:21:04,036 Speaker 1: a lung and an arm. He lost an eye, but 356 00:21:04,396 --> 00:21:08,756 Speaker 1: I probably Bob was alive. In fact, he attempted to 357 00:21:08,836 --> 00:21:12,116 Speaker 1: walk back up the ridge to the battelaid station by himself. 358 00:21:12,716 --> 00:21:16,396 Speaker 1: He refused medical treatment until he was sure that Roach 359 00:21:16,556 --> 00:21:23,316 Speaker 1: had been safely evacuated. Finally Bob collapsed. He saved Jim 360 00:21:23,396 --> 00:21:25,996 Speaker 1: Roach's life. With the plasma in one hand and a 361 00:21:26,076 --> 00:21:28,636 Speaker 1: rifle in the other, he had made a split second 362 00:21:28,636 --> 00:21:32,476 Speaker 1: decision that was remarkable in its bravery. He was eighteen 363 00:21:32,556 --> 00:21:37,476 Speaker 1: years old. Bob Bush's grand teenage adventure hadn't quite turned 364 00:21:37,476 --> 00:21:40,476 Speaker 1: out the way he'd hoped, but war rarely does. 365 00:21:41,436 --> 00:21:43,476 Speaker 2: I said, will you gotta get me patched up? I 366 00:21:43,516 --> 00:21:46,476 Speaker 2: got to get home, and then I was thinking of home. 367 00:21:47,556 --> 00:21:49,836 Speaker 1: He was still a kid. He wanted to go home, 368 00:21:50,476 --> 00:21:54,276 Speaker 1: and now he could. When Bob Bush joined up, he 369 00:21:54,356 --> 00:21:56,396 Speaker 1: thought about war the way he would have thought about 370 00:21:56,396 --> 00:22:00,436 Speaker 1: a football game, two sides, one winner. I can imagine 371 00:22:00,436 --> 00:22:03,476 Speaker 1: that the teenagers serving on the other side envisioned it 372 00:22:03,556 --> 00:22:07,196 Speaker 1: in the same unambiguous way. But the young medics of 373 00:22:07,236 --> 00:22:10,036 Speaker 1: the Himiuri Corps were facing a sa situation that was 374 00:22:10,076 --> 00:22:13,876 Speaker 1: even more dire. Trapped in the caves with little training 375 00:22:14,196 --> 00:22:17,916 Speaker 1: and even fewer medical supplies, unable to keep the Japanese 376 00:22:17,956 --> 00:22:22,276 Speaker 1: soldiers and their fellow okinawan's from dying. In the book 377 00:22:22,756 --> 00:22:26,316 Speaker 1: Japan at War and Earal History by Haruko Taya Cook 378 00:22:26,676 --> 00:22:30,956 Speaker 1: and Theodore Cook, the authors interviewed Miagi kuk Kuko, one 379 00:22:30,996 --> 00:22:34,196 Speaker 1: of the Hymnayuri girls. She was sixteen when the Battle 380 00:22:34,196 --> 00:22:38,756 Speaker 1: of Okinawa began. She remembers it this way quote, Wounded 381 00:22:38,796 --> 00:22:42,196 Speaker 1: soldiers were being carried into the caves in large numbers. 382 00:22:42,756 --> 00:22:47,116 Speaker 1: Some didn't have faces, some didn't have limbs. At first, 383 00:22:47,156 --> 00:22:50,276 Speaker 1: we were so scared that we wept. Soon we stopped 384 00:22:50,876 --> 00:22:53,996 Speaker 1: outside was a rain of bullets from morning tonight. There 385 00:22:54,036 --> 00:22:59,116 Speaker 1: was no time for sobbing or lamentation. Miyagi and Bob 386 00:22:59,356 --> 00:23:03,516 Speaker 1: shared something important, a belief in a cause and a 387 00:23:03,556 --> 00:23:06,476 Speaker 1: hope that they could save lives. They both had that 388 00:23:06,676 --> 00:23:11,476 Speaker 1: optimism of youth save a life in an extraordinary heroic way. 389 00:23:12,116 --> 00:23:16,076 Speaker 1: Then he got to go home. Miyagi wasn't so lucky. 390 00:23:16,676 --> 00:23:19,516 Speaker 1: Her home was the battlefield. She would have to be 391 00:23:19,636 --> 00:23:26,516 Speaker 1: there until the bitter end. The Battle of Okinawa lasted 392 00:23:26,556 --> 00:23:31,756 Speaker 1: a total of eighty two days. Ultimately, the Allies were victorious. 393 00:23:32,556 --> 00:23:37,316 Speaker 1: Many Japanese soldiers who survived the battle committed suicide instead 394 00:23:37,316 --> 00:23:41,276 Speaker 1: of being captured, and civilians did the same thing. They'd 395 00:23:41,316 --> 00:23:47,236 Speaker 1: been convinced that the Americans would treat them barbarically. Miyagi survived. Later, 396 00:23:47,396 --> 00:23:51,236 Speaker 1: she remembered, quote, We'd been taught and firmly believed that 397 00:23:51,276 --> 00:23:54,876 Speaker 1: we Okinawans must never fall into the hands of the enemy. 398 00:23:55,716 --> 00:23:59,996 Speaker 1: I could think of the Americans only as devils and demons. 399 00:24:00,996 --> 00:24:04,516 Speaker 1: The Japanese army gave the Himiyuri girls grenades and told 400 00:24:04,556 --> 00:24:08,236 Speaker 1: them to use them on themselves. Of the roughly two 401 00:24:08,276 --> 00:24:12,156 Speaker 1: thousand high school students who were drafted into service, only 402 00:24:12,356 --> 00:24:16,796 Speaker 1: nine hundred and fifty survived. Miagi was one of the 403 00:24:16,876 --> 00:24:21,556 Speaker 1: lucky ones. Almost a quarter of a million people died 404 00:24:21,596 --> 00:24:26,196 Speaker 1: at Okinawa. Fourteen thousand of those were American troops and 405 00:24:26,316 --> 00:24:31,476 Speaker 1: roughly one hundred and fifty thousand were Okinawan civilians, a 406 00:24:31,676 --> 00:24:33,596 Speaker 1: third of the island's population. 407 00:24:34,436 --> 00:24:36,476 Speaker 2: That's a hell of a lot of people to die 408 00:24:36,796 --> 00:24:38,716 Speaker 2: and more than both atomic bones. 409 00:24:40,476 --> 00:24:43,676 Speaker 1: In fact, the enormous casualties and the brutal fighting during 410 00:24:43,676 --> 00:24:48,116 Speaker 1: the Battle of Okinawa directly influenced the American decision to 411 00:24:48,236 --> 00:24:53,756 Speaker 1: use atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Harry Choon was 412 00:24:53,796 --> 00:24:57,036 Speaker 1: afraid that an invasion of the Home Islands would look 413 00:24:57,116 --> 00:25:00,516 Speaker 1: like quote Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other. 414 00:25:02,156 --> 00:25:05,596 Speaker 1: Bob Bush made the most consequential decision of his life 415 00:25:05,916 --> 00:25:08,876 Speaker 1: to join the service when he was a teenager. In 416 00:25:09,236 --> 00:25:12,556 Speaker 1: an optimistic leap of faith way you do things when 417 00:25:12,596 --> 00:25:15,636 Speaker 1: you're that age. He and his friend from the football 418 00:25:15,636 --> 00:25:18,356 Speaker 1: team couldn't wait to get out there and serve. He 419 00:25:18,396 --> 00:25:20,516 Speaker 1: had no idea what he was getting into, of course, 420 00:25:20,556 --> 00:25:23,716 Speaker 1: how could he. Being that young is both a blessing 421 00:25:24,196 --> 00:25:27,796 Speaker 1: and a curse. You have this idealistic notion of what 422 00:25:27,836 --> 00:25:30,836 Speaker 1: the world can be, you go out and fight for it, 423 00:25:31,396 --> 00:25:34,876 Speaker 1: and then it colors your life going forward. It shows 424 00:25:34,916 --> 00:25:39,316 Speaker 1: you what is possible, and it shows you what can 425 00:25:39,356 --> 00:25:40,276 Speaker 1: be lost. 426 00:25:40,516 --> 00:25:43,356 Speaker 2: Two guys on the football team up there, that Willipaul 427 00:25:43,436 --> 00:25:46,276 Speaker 2: Valley decided, well, we better go help them, and that's 428 00:25:46,316 --> 00:25:48,316 Speaker 2: what we did. And I was very happy to have 429 00:25:48,756 --> 00:25:51,796 Speaker 2: the opportunity of doing that. I don't know that I'd 430 00:25:51,836 --> 00:25:56,156 Speaker 2: do it again, but I'm happy that I did for 431 00:25:56,396 --> 00:25:56,876 Speaker 2: one time. 432 00:25:56,916 --> 00:26:22,396 Speaker 1: Anyway, Bob spent time in a military hospital, but he 433 00:26:22,436 --> 00:26:25,116 Speaker 1: wanted to get back to Menlo as quickly as he could. 434 00:26:25,756 --> 00:26:28,556 Speaker 1: He returned in the summer of forty five, and that 435 00:26:28,716 --> 00:26:31,996 Speaker 1: fall he went back to high school. He was anxious 436 00:26:32,036 --> 00:26:35,156 Speaker 1: to restart his old life. He even tried to play 437 00:26:35,196 --> 00:26:38,836 Speaker 1: football again with his glass eye and his chest wound. 438 00:26:39,316 --> 00:26:42,196 Speaker 2: I said, coach, and I can still play, and I'd 439 00:26:42,276 --> 00:26:45,676 Speaker 2: like to get suited up, and so he said, Okay. 440 00:26:46,676 --> 00:26:49,356 Speaker 1: One Saturday morning, he was on his way to practice 441 00:26:49,356 --> 00:26:52,316 Speaker 1: when the war encroached again in a different way. 442 00:26:53,076 --> 00:26:56,156 Speaker 2: I was carrying my football shoes out. The phone rang 443 00:26:56,676 --> 00:27:00,196 Speaker 2: from my home and I answered it and it was Forestal, 444 00:27:00,476 --> 00:27:01,836 Speaker 2: Secretary of the Navy. 445 00:27:02,836 --> 00:27:05,636 Speaker 1: James Forrestal was calling to tell him he'd won the 446 00:27:05,676 --> 00:27:09,116 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor. President Harry Truman was going to get 447 00:27:09,316 --> 00:27:11,676 Speaker 1: him the award at the White House. He'd get to 448 00:27:11,716 --> 00:27:16,036 Speaker 1: travel all the way cross country from Washington State to Washington, 449 00:27:16,156 --> 00:27:16,396 Speaker 1: d C. 450 00:27:17,396 --> 00:27:20,356 Speaker 2: Yeah, so this was a trip for your lifetime when 451 00:27:20,396 --> 00:27:23,196 Speaker 2: you live in a little town of Washington, d c. 452 00:27:23,356 --> 00:27:26,436 Speaker 2: As about four across the country as you can get. 453 00:27:27,076 --> 00:27:29,116 Speaker 1: His first thought was that he'd bring his mother to 454 00:27:29,156 --> 00:27:33,636 Speaker 1: the ceremony. His mom had a different idea. Bob's girlfriend, Wanda, 455 00:27:33,916 --> 00:27:36,396 Speaker 1: had waited for him when he was overseas and they 456 00:27:36,436 --> 00:27:40,556 Speaker 1: planned to get married after he graduated. Bob's mother made 457 00:27:40,556 --> 00:27:44,796 Speaker 1: a suggestion, why not get married now and take Wanda 458 00:27:44,916 --> 00:27:50,756 Speaker 1: to Washington as a honeymoon, and so he did. The 459 00:27:50,796 --> 00:27:53,876 Speaker 1: Middle of Honor service took place the day after Bob's 460 00:27:53,956 --> 00:27:54,836 Speaker 1: nineteenth birthday. 461 00:27:55,836 --> 00:27:59,796 Speaker 2: Took one year, six months and twenty two days from 462 00:27:59,836 --> 00:28:04,156 Speaker 2: my entire military service, and I was in the service, 463 00:28:04,516 --> 00:28:08,516 Speaker 2: out of the service, home, married, back in school, and 464 00:28:08,556 --> 00:28:13,196 Speaker 2: I was still nineteen. 465 00:28:11,916 --> 00:28:15,076 Speaker 1: The first days of adulthood. His life was just beginning. 466 00:28:15,516 --> 00:28:19,396 Speaker 1: But what he'd experienced in Okinawa had shaped him. He 467 00:28:19,476 --> 00:28:23,396 Speaker 1: knew now how arbitrarily cruel the world could be, and 468 00:28:23,436 --> 00:28:26,636 Speaker 1: he knew how lucky he had been for one thing, 469 00:28:26,676 --> 00:28:29,876 Speaker 1: he'd survived, unlike so many young men, including that high 470 00:28:29,916 --> 00:28:32,636 Speaker 1: school friend who had also hoped to marry Wanda. 471 00:28:33,316 --> 00:28:36,716 Speaker 2: I have a very close friend. He was a competitor 472 00:28:37,156 --> 00:28:40,476 Speaker 2: to my wife. In fact, my wife had two boyfriends 473 00:28:40,476 --> 00:28:42,076 Speaker 2: and he was one of them, and I was the other. 474 00:28:42,636 --> 00:28:44,196 Speaker 2: And he was killed on me with GiMA. 475 00:28:44,956 --> 00:28:46,996 Speaker 1: Bob knew that it could just as easily have been 476 00:28:47,116 --> 00:28:50,676 Speaker 1: him dying on the shores of some foreign island, So 477 00:28:50,716 --> 00:28:53,716 Speaker 1: he honored his missing friend, his romantic rival. 478 00:28:54,436 --> 00:28:59,236 Speaker 2: I have decorated his grave for fifty years. I feel 479 00:28:59,276 --> 00:29:01,476 Speaker 2: badly about it, but I know what wore a cost. 480 00:29:02,756 --> 00:29:05,796 Speaker 1: That to me is the crucial thing. Two kids with 481 00:29:05,876 --> 00:29:10,676 Speaker 1: the same hopes a split second bullet, and everything breaks 482 00:29:10,716 --> 00:29:13,876 Speaker 1: differently for each of them. Life snuffed out for one 483 00:29:14,276 --> 00:29:17,796 Speaker 1: fundamentally altered for the other. Bob knew the costs of 484 00:29:17,876 --> 00:29:21,436 Speaker 1: war because he saw soldiers and civilians, men and women 485 00:29:21,476 --> 00:29:25,396 Speaker 1: and children pay the price. He saw those things when 486 00:29:25,396 --> 00:29:35,556 Speaker 1: he was barely an adult himself. Bob Bush, the guy 487 00:29:35,556 --> 00:29:37,836 Speaker 1: whose mom wasn't quite sure he was smart enough to 488 00:29:37,876 --> 00:29:40,716 Speaker 1: get to high school, bought a lumberyard with a friend 489 00:29:41,316 --> 00:29:44,756 Speaker 1: and turned it into a multi million dollar business. He 490 00:29:44,836 --> 00:29:47,556 Speaker 1: went on to lead the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. 491 00:29:48,276 --> 00:29:51,796 Speaker 1: He was featured in Tom Brokaw's book The Greatest Generation. 492 00:29:52,876 --> 00:29:56,076 Speaker 1: He went back to Okinawa not just to pay tribute 493 00:29:56,116 --> 00:29:59,596 Speaker 1: to his fallen comrades, but also to the civilians who 494 00:29:59,636 --> 00:30:03,116 Speaker 1: gave their lives because they weren't given any other choice. 495 00:30:03,756 --> 00:30:06,636 Speaker 2: I've been out there four or five times since the 496 00:30:06,716 --> 00:30:10,316 Speaker 2: war that I took my whole family, fifteen of them 497 00:30:10,356 --> 00:30:10,956 Speaker 2: back there. 498 00:30:12,076 --> 00:30:16,956 Speaker 1: The surviving Himiyuri girls, including Miyagi, built a museum to 499 00:30:17,076 --> 00:30:19,876 Speaker 1: memorialize what they had suffered through in the war. Not 500 00:30:20,076 --> 00:30:22,636 Speaker 1: letting the world forget was part of how they made 501 00:30:22,756 --> 00:30:24,716 Speaker 1: sense of what happened to them when they were so young. 502 00:30:25,716 --> 00:30:28,716 Speaker 1: Bob also built his life on the foundations of his 503 00:30:28,756 --> 00:30:33,196 Speaker 1: war experience. A lot of his fellow servicemen that greatest 504 00:30:33,236 --> 00:30:38,916 Speaker 1: generation came home determined to work hard, be successful. Clearly 505 00:30:39,476 --> 00:30:42,356 Speaker 1: Bob did too, but he would tell you that the 506 00:30:42,356 --> 00:30:44,916 Speaker 1: most consequential thing he did in the wake of his 507 00:30:45,036 --> 00:30:51,756 Speaker 1: service was something more emotional, more personal. The fatherless Ruddless 508 00:30:51,796 --> 00:30:56,076 Speaker 1: boy was determined to be a father. Bob and Wanda 509 00:30:56,276 --> 00:30:59,396 Speaker 1: went on to have four children, and Bob believed that 510 00:30:59,476 --> 00:31:02,396 Speaker 1: it would never have been possible if he hadn't gone 511 00:31:02,396 --> 00:31:02,796 Speaker 1: to war. 512 00:31:03,396 --> 00:31:06,716 Speaker 2: What I learned in the service, but both an Avian wrinklers. 513 00:31:07,436 --> 00:31:12,276 Speaker 2: I learned a value of a family and to be 514 00:31:12,316 --> 00:31:14,596 Speaker 2: able to come home every night to a family and 515 00:31:15,396 --> 00:31:20,236 Speaker 2: watch him grow up wonderful and believe me, I felt 516 00:31:20,316 --> 00:31:23,316 Speaker 2: that that wouldn't be possible had I not served, because 517 00:31:23,316 --> 00:31:25,396 Speaker 2: I don't think I'd have been disciplined enough to know 518 00:31:25,476 --> 00:31:26,476 Speaker 2: what the hell I was doing. 519 00:31:28,156 --> 00:31:30,756 Speaker 1: I can understand why it must have felt so wonderful 520 00:31:30,756 --> 00:31:35,876 Speaker 1: to him. Kids are inherently optimistic, so unjaded, just like 521 00:31:35,996 --> 00:31:38,916 Speaker 1: Bob had been back at Willepa Valley High waiting for 522 00:31:38,956 --> 00:31:41,996 Speaker 1: the moment he'd be old enough to go on his adventure, 523 00:31:42,476 --> 00:31:46,356 Speaker 1: to go and fight, totally unaware of what lay ahead. 524 00:31:48,036 --> 00:31:51,076 Speaker 1: Bob lived through the brutality of Okinawa so he could 525 00:31:51,116 --> 00:31:53,916 Speaker 1: look into the hopeful faces of his own children and say, 526 00:31:54,916 --> 00:31:59,676 Speaker 1: the future is yours, This is your inheritance. I fought 527 00:31:59,676 --> 00:32:09,076 Speaker 1: for this better world. Let me give it to you. 528 00:32:17,876 --> 00:32:21,036 Speaker 1: Medal of Honor. Stories of Courage is written by Meredith 529 00:32:21,076 --> 00:32:26,116 Speaker 1: Rollins and produced by Meredith Rollins, Constanza Galardo, and Izzy Carter. 530 00:32:26,636 --> 00:32:29,676 Speaker 1: The show is edited by Ben Nadafh Haffrey, Sound design 531 00:32:29,796 --> 00:32:34,476 Speaker 1: and additional music by Jake Gorski, recording engineering by Nina Lawrence, 532 00:32:34,916 --> 00:32:39,436 Speaker 1: fact checking by Arthur Gompert's, original music by Eric Phillips. 533 00:32:40,316 --> 00:32:41,836 Speaker 1: If you want to learn more about our Medal of 534 00:32:41,876 --> 00:32:45,676 Speaker 1: Honor recipients, follow us on Instagram and Twitter. We'll be 535 00:32:45,716 --> 00:32:49,036 Speaker 1: sharing photos and videos of the heroes featured on the show. 536 00:32:49,596 --> 00:32:52,356 Speaker 1: We'd also love to hear from you dm us with 537 00:32:52,396 --> 00:32:55,396 Speaker 1: a story about a courageous veteran in your life. If 538 00:32:55,396 --> 00:32:57,676 Speaker 1: you don't know a veteran, we would love to hear 539 00:32:57,716 --> 00:33:02,396 Speaker 1: a story of how courage was contagious in your own life. 540 00:33:02,516 --> 00:33:06,796 Speaker 1: You can find us at Pushkin Bonds. I'm your host, 541 00:33:07,436 --> 00:33:22,876 Speaker 1: Malcolm Baba