Robert "Bob" E. Cowdery

Robert "Bob" E. Cowdery

I was born on April 4, 1926 in Canon City, Colorado. My family moved to Denver, Colorado in 1938. I attended South High School in Denver, before enlisting in the Navy in May 1943.

I attended Boot Camp and Electricians Mate School in Farragut, Idaho, and Gyro Compass School at Treasure Island, San Francisco. A troop ship took us to Pearl Harbor were I was assigned to the U.S.S. Nassau CVE-16 in June 1944. My and fourteen grandchildren. The family is very close, and this is indeed fortunate.

After graduating from the University of Colorado, I was hired by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh and Baltimore. I worked continuously for 35 years before retiring. This part of Westinghouse was in the Aero Space defense business. As such, we had continuous work with the Navy and the Air Force. Our efforts encompassed engineering and program management in the field of research, development, qualification and production of interceptor fire control systems, including computers for guns, rockets, and missile fire control systems. Significant research was with technology for overland down look radar systems. This led to the development of the AWACS radar. Considerable effort was spent in the development of airborne command and control systems. This included the supply of the complete air defense system for the country of Morocco. The Westinghouse Order of merit and the IEEE Pioneer award was made for the development of the AWACS radar and the Moroccan Air Defense System.

Upon retirement in 1986, we moved to Lake Monticello in Virginia. Life in the retirement mode is very nice. It gives one time to do all the things we were too busy to do while working for a living and raising a family. Frank Lloyd Crow: I was born in Oceanside, Long Island, New York on July 24, 1927. I grew up in DeSoto, a small town in southern Illinois. In 1945, I joined the Navy in Marion, Illinois. I went to Boot Camp at Camp Green bay which was at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Chicago, Illinois in August 1945. After finishing boot camp and leave, I went to Camp Parks in California, and then to Treasure Island. From there, I was transported aboard the U.S.S. Calvert to Honolulu, Hawaii. I joined the crew of the U.S.S. Nassau at Ford Island on the October 1945.

The Nassau had just come back from China. At the time she was transporting troops and aircraft, back and forth, from Hawaii and Guam to the Mainland. Duties were to maintain the steering gear and emergency diesels. I was also Motor Man for the Motor Launch and whaleboat.

I remember Christmas 1945. I spent that Christmas in the middle of the ocean. Santa still came to visit us, though. He was dressed dungarees, dyed red, with a swab (mop) for a beard. He was a welcome sight, and I enjoyed the show put on by the crew.

An eventful time on ship was when we were in a typhoon with Hanger Deck and Flight Deck full of aircraft. We took water down the stacks which secured (put out) the boilers. For awhile, the ship was afloat without steering control, like a cork bobbing in the water. Our crew, under the direction of Lt. Roberts, headed for the engine room. We started the emergency diesels and were able to regain control of the ship.

I left the Nassau on August 3, 1946 at Bremerton, Washington, where she was decommissioned. Then I went on to Great Lakes for my discharge from the Navy on August 6, 1946.

On December 4, 1946 I married Ramona Jean Buckles in Hurst, Illinois. We have three daughters and sons-in-law, three granddaughters, two grandsons, and four great-grandchildren. We all live in southern Illinois.

Even though I was a pollywog, I didn't get to cross the equator. I was very honored to serve my country as a part of the crew of the U.S.S. Nassau. I made lifetime friends and many memories.