One Man's War: Robert H Allison's Life in the US Navy

One Man's War -Part 1: July 8, 1942 - November 15, 1942 Enlisting in the V-5 Program

Near the end of his course the Navy was giving a preliminary test for a Naval Aviation Cadet program at the...

One Man's War -Part 2: November 15, 1942-March 15, 1943 Marysville, Mo.-Norfolk, NE.-CPT-WTS

From that town we caught another ride to Oseola, IA, about 30 miles from Des Moines and from there another...

One Man's War -Part 3: March 1, 1943-May 31, 1943

While waiting to be called for CPT/WTS, B.J. and a friend of his were out on the beach of the Gulf of...

One Man's War -Part 4: June 1, 1943 - August 1, 1943

There were several flight schools in the middle west: NAS Minneapolis, NAS St. Louis, NAS Olathe, Kansas...

One Man's War -Part 5: Stateside Training Sessions

Running between Des Moines and Ottumwa was the Des Moines River on its way to the Mississippi River......

One Man's War -Part 6: August 1, 1943-January 25, 1944

The required postcard home Our destination in Pensacola was the Pensacola Naval Air Station, the...

One Man's War -Part 7: August 1, 1943--January 25, 1944 continued

Maybe because my name began with "A". Those choosing to be Navy fighter or bomber pilots were sent...

One Man's War -Part 8: January 25, 1944 - May 1, 1944

After picking up B.J.'s sister we were treated to lunch at Antoine's then shown every point of...

One Man's War -Part 9: January 25, 1944 -- May 1, 1944 Part Two

After things settled down and Bates and Glista were in bed, Bloski and I took the water filled fire...

One Man's War -Part 10: January 25, 1944 -- MAY 1, 1944 Part Three

About a quarter mile ahead of the painted carrier deck we were to make a 90 degree left turn and let down...

One Man's War -Part 11: May 1, 1944 - May 8, 1944

On the seventh day we took off from Glenview and flew out over Lake Michigan to the carrier... For that...

One Man's War -Part 12: May 1944 - July 1944

Bates, Glista and I received orders to report to Harrisburg, Pa. for photo reconnaissance school... We were...

One Man's War -Part 13: August 13, 1944 - September 1, 1944, Assignment to Squadron VC-93

The leader of the 1st wing was the commander of the squadron, Lieutenant Commander Chester Pond Smith......

One Man's War -Part 14: September 1, 1944 - September 30, 1944

Our squadron doctor, Lieutenant Leon Starr, advised the group to be sure to take salt tablets regularly....

One Man's War -Part 15: September 1, 1944 -- September 30, 1944 continued

Probably the most humorous thing that took place for the group while we were at Holtville was an outing of...

One Man's War -Part 16: October 1, 1944 - December 1, 1944

In the two months that we were stationed at Los Alamitos, Charlie and his lady friend, Wilda, with my...

One Man's War -Part 17: December 1, 1944 - December 26, 1944

After landing at Kaneohe, Jim Wells and I took off over the Pali by bus for Pearl Harbor... When we got...

One Man's War -Part 18: December 26, 1944 - January 8, 1945

The high light of this cruise was the "ordeal" of the "Royal Order of the Deep". This...

One Man's War -Part 19: February 11, - March 10, 1945

The idea of practice landings is to develop your technique so that under less ideal combat conditions...