THETFORD-ROBERT

    After graduating from high school in 1942 at age 17, Bob worked as a clerk for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps in Washington, DC, and as a railroad police stenographer for Southern Pacific in Los Angeles before entering the U.S. Navy during World War II. Due to his administrative skills and ability to type over 100 wpm on a manual typewriter, Bob was advanced to Yeoman 3^rd Class upon graduation from boot camp at NTC SAN DIEGO, CA. He was ordered to duty as communications clerk and Captain’s Yeoman with the pre-commissioning crew aboard the USS BROADWATER (APA 139) in San Pedro, CA. He became a Plank Owner upon the ship’s commissioning.

    As Captain’s Yeoman, Bob typed every page of the BROADWATER’s official Deck Log from date of commissioning through date of decommissioning. An attack transport, the ship hauled Army infantryman and Navy Seabees in several South Pacific island-hopping campaigns. Bob could always picture in his mind’s eye how quickly the exhausted soldiers and Seabees would fall asleep sprawled out on the ship’s weather decks soon after they came aboard. He also treasured memories of swimming in picturesque island lagoons during “liberty hours” granted in south seas ports, welcome respite from long at sea periods.  

    Bob’s duties included writing and publishing the ship’s daily newspaper while at sea. He never forgot how emotional he felt writing the articles about the death of FDR, the Nazis’ surrender in Europe, the dropping of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and final victory over the Japanese. The BROADWATER disembarked some of the first occupation troops at Yokohama shortly after the Japanese surrendered in 1945. Bob soberly recalled serving as ship’s courier in port, carrying mail and dispatches in a jeep to McArthur’s Tokyo headquarters via a Yokohama leveled by U.S. bombing, while armed only with a .45 caliber pistol.

    Finally, in 1946, the USS BROADWAY was ordered to sail for NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, VA, via the Panama Canal to prepare for decommissioning. Yeoman 2^nd Class Thetford typed the ship’s final Deck Log entry for the Captain’s signature, then disembarked, the second-to-last crew member to go ashore, just before the Captain himself.

    While awaiting discharge at NAVAL STATION TACOMA, WA, Bob met his future wife, Arline, on a blind date at a morning church service. In 1947, the newly married couple moved to McMinnville, OR, to attend Linfield College. Bob was a proud Theta Chi and graduated in 1950 with a B.A. in English thanks to the G.I. Bill. In 1956, he earned a Master’s Degree in Education at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

    While enjoying a successful 36-year career as a high school teacher and principal, Bob always remained proud of his service as a young sailor in the U.S. Navy. At age 86, he traveled by train with family to Washington, DC, eager to see the World War II and Navy Memorials. He also was astounded and humbled to be allowed to hold and read in the U.S. Archives the original World War II Deck Log of his ship, the USS BROADWATER, with every page that he personally typed during the war so long ago.