Wilmington World War II vet finally gets medals
04/09/2008, 10:40 am – By Robert Themer rthemer@daily-journal.com 815- 937-3369
It took 62 years and 6 months, but Navy Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class Robert Newton Reavis of Wilmington finally received the medals he earned in World War II this week.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, of Morris, presented the medals to Reavis on Monday at his Joliet office — the result of efforts by Reavis’ son, Dennis, also of Wilmington. He said he asked for Weller’s help after reading that he had secured medals for another WW II veteran from Joliet.
“Robert Reavis displayed the uncommon courage that is commonly found among our fighting men and women both today and in years past,” Weller said in a release. “While today we’re honoring one veteran, it’s important to note that everyone who wears the uniform of the United States military deserves recognition and our undying respect.”
Monday’s presentation “was quiet, nice,” Dennis said. “I think it was a little overwhelming to Dad at one point. There had never been any fuss made before.”
Dad’s reaction was to the point: “It was nice. About time,” Dennis said.
“You could tell he was excited in picking up the hardware in particular. I thought it was long overdue. I just regret that I didn’t do it sooner when he might have been a little more helpful about what he did during the war.”
Robert Reavis is suffering from memory loss and, like many veterans of war, never talked much about it after coming home anyway.
It was through wanting to know more about his father’s war service that Dennis launched the medals effort.
Why had he never received them? “What he told me at one time was that he was discharged in November of ’45, and by that time a good number of troops were home from Europe. When he got home, they said they just didn’t have the medals and ‘you’ll get them eventually.’ Eventually turned out to be 2008.”
Highest among the half dozen medals were the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Star and the Navy Combat Action Ribbon.
“The Combat Action Ribbon was probably closely tied to the battle star on his Asiatic-Pacific Medal … an indication that you participated in a major invasion,” said Dennis. “In my dad’s case, it was the invasion of Okinawa.”
One World War II award Weller couldn’t produce was the Philippine Liberation Medal. “That has to be issued by the government of the Philippines,” Dennis said. “That could be an interesting quest.”
Return to roots
With his war service behind him on Nov. 8, 1945, Robert “just went about living and finishing school and making a living and raising a family” — Dennis and his sister, Gayle Ann Reavis, of Crescent City.
When he enlisted on Feb. 2, 1942, he was in the second of a two-year technical electrical degree program at Oklahoma A&M. His two brothers also joined.
After the war, he finished the A&M degree and went to work for Texaco-City Services Pipeline, which had a pumping station at Wilmington. “They sent him north temporarily,” Dennis said, “and it turned into 36 years before he retired.”
One benefit of moving to Wilmington was that he met Juanita Allott, a Wilmington native, to whom he has been married for 50 years.
“Growing up, I always asked him, like other kids: Dad, what did you do during the war, and he would say, ‘I served on a cargo ship.’”
Sounds pretty mundane.
“He finally gave me the name of the ship — the USS Pamina, carrying the hull number AKA 34. The AKA is for Auxiliary Kargo Attack ship. The Navy used the K for cargo.”
During island attacks, the Pamina “carried the landing craft and, while the heavy cruisers were bombarding the Japanese island, these ships had to work between them, deploy the landing craft and troops, then remain between them,” Dennis said.
“The one thing he talked about was the sound these 1-ton projectiles would make as they went overhead from the 16-inch guns.”
More surprises
Juanita Reavis “is as surprised with some of the stuff we are turning up as I am,” Dennis said. “That generation answered the call and came home and they didn’t talk about it. …
“What was truly sad out of all of this is that he has never said boo to me even about what he did in the states. Just in the last weeks’ digging around, according to his discharge papers he was assigned to something called EILNPF — the Explosive Investigative Laboratory of the Naval Powder Factory in Indian Head, Md.
“I’ve been in contact with a public relations person there, and basically what they did is when the Allied forces would capture a rocket from another country, it would be sent to this laboratory and they would defuse it and evaluate it to see if there was anything valuable in it to be used.
“He never said a word about it because it was classified.”
Technorati Tags: WWII, News, WWarII, Medals, Veteran
Share on Facebook
