Batavia man marks 100 years, recalls serving during World War II on historic battleship

Robert Larson was an 18-year-old high school graduate with a horn when he joined the U.S. Navy on Nov. 22, 1942, to play in the band on ships.

Larson was a Musician 2nd Class, assigned to the band on the USS Texas, a 27,000-ton battleship.

“Every ship or shore station in the world, if it had 1,000 men or more, rated a chaplain and the band,” Larson said.

Larson, a resident of The Holmstad in Batavia, celebrated his 100th birthday on May 29. He recalled serving on the USS Texas in World War II.

The New York class battleship was at Omaha Beach for a bombardment in support of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944.

“We got to Normandy about 4 a.m., before dawn, before the troops hit the beach — we were softening up targets,” Larson said.

To soften up a target means to kill the people who were shooting at them, he said.

The Texas also became a hospital, taking on D-Day wounded.

“I had three jobs,” Larson said. “When the ship was in port, I was a musician. When we were underway, I was a surface lookout. And when the ship was engaged in battle, I was working with a doctor and a corpsman.”

Larson and others did anything that needed to be done for the wounded, carrying stretchers and even assisting in surgery.

‘Go take those guns out’

After Normandy, the USS Texas went to the German-occupied city of Cherbourg, France to retake the city and open the port to the Allied powers.

“The Germans had fortified the cliffs with big guns. They had them embedded in the cliff sides with sliding doors.” Larson said. “And they had mined the harbor … so we could not use the port. … And we could not get in and sweep the harbor of mines because of those guns. So they told us, ‘Go take those guns out.’”

The Texas and a couple of other ships engaged those guns. and the Texas was hit twice by return fire.

“We had one shell land on the port side of the bow, just above the waterline. But it didn’t explode. We used it later for war bond rallies,” Larson said.

The Texas knocked the guns out, swept the harbor and removed the mines.

After Cherbourg, the battleship went on to support the invasion of Southern France in the Mediterranean Sea, then to the Pacific to support invasions at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

They were there for 50 days and had to deal with Japanese kamikazes — suicide pilots.

“They would come at night,” he said. “We had no rest.”

They managed to hit every suicide plane.

The Texas then went to Subic Bay in the Philippines to wait with the rest of the fleet for the invasion of Japan.

“While we were there, I received orders that my sea duty was ending,” Larson said.

Musicians are supposed to be at sea for two years and two years on the beach. Larson had been at sea for two years and two months.

“I was on my way home on another ship, and I heard about a bomb that had been dropped on Hiroshima,” Larson said. “It was an awesome bomb, but ended the war.”

It started with a cornet

Larson’s parents were Swedish immigrants who settled on Chicago’s south side.

When Larson was about 10, his father handed him a cornet, similar to a trumpet but more compact.

“He said, ‘Here. Learn to play this.’”

Eventually, young Larson began taking lessons from a French horn player in the Chicago’s Women’s Symphony, Elsie Engelmann Blank.

“I was learning to play and enjoying it,” he said. “She was a real teacher. I learned to play but also to love music.”

Larson spent his last four months of service in the Navy Music School.

Pastor Larson

After the Navy, Larson became a minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church. He attended North Park Junior College — now North Park University — for eight years and was ordained at age 29.

He served congregations in Michigan, Wisconsin and Rhode Island.

While serving a congregation in Ishpeming, Michigan, Larson married a widow with a daughter, whom he adopted, and they had two more children. He returned to Illinois. His wife died in 2012 of Alzheimer’s.

“I took care of her as long as I could,” Larson said.

Recalling the details of his wartime service, Larson said he longs for peace in a world that seems to be constantly at war.

He looks to his faith for guidance.

“We believe if you choose to have Christ in your life, you’ll have a better life. Your life will be full of love and not warfare,” Larson said. “I know in my own heart that when you have Christ in your life, there’s an unaccountable love that’s there. It helps you to love people more than you would otherwise.”

He paused.

“I’m not saying it’s easy.”