WWII hero
only wanted to
help people
Veterans will be honored
By Gregg K. Kakesako
in ceremonies marking the
end of World War II
Star-BulletinWhen Bob Bush left high school to enter basic training as a Navy medic in 1943, he told his mom that he was "going into the service to help people, not to kill them."
Bush, now 72, tried to keep his promise -- but then found himself thrust into one of the deadliest battles of World War II.
Unflinching, he returned home blind in one eye and with the Medal of Honor hanging around his neck.
As described by NBC's Tom Brokaw in his book "The Greatest Generation," Bush in May 1945 went to the aid of a gravely wounded Marine officer during the battle of Okinawa, a crucial and costly action to control the Pacific for a planned invasion of Japan.
Tomorrow, Bush and other members of what Brokaw describes as "the greatest generation any society has ever produced" will be honored for the last time this century in two separate ceremonies commemorating the end of the World War II.
Provided by Bob Bush
Bob Bush, at left, gets his Medal of Honor from
President Truman during a White House ceremony.
Bush is scheduled to speak at the morning ceremony, which will begin at 8:45 a.m. on Ford Island's Pier F-5, the permanent berth of the battleship USS Missouri, on whose decks the surrender documents were signed by the Japanese 54 years ago.Later that evening, Bush and other World War II veterans who were featured in Brokaw's book, including Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye, will be honored at a special Hilton Hawaiian Village fund-raising benefit designed to help the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
Bush, a retired Washington lumber and building supply executive, is proud of being a part of what he calls "that generation that saved the world."
But Bush -- who quit high school in South Bend in southwest Washington when he was 17 to join the Navy medical corps -- said "our generation had to pitch in and work or they would have been speaking Japanese or German."
"Our founding fathers gave their money, their lives and their scared honor to found the American republic," he said. "This gave us the foundation of this great generation ... "
"It's not to say that given the opportunity, Americans today wouldn't rise to the occasion. We had to. We didn't have a choice."
On May 2, 1945, 32 days into the campaign to take Okinawa, Bush as a Navy hospital corpsman was attached to a rifle company in the Second Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division. The Marines were ordered to attack a heavily fortified Japanese position.
Bush was administering aid to Lt. James Roach on an open ridge when the Japanese attacked. Holding a plasma bottle in one hand, Bush, then a petty officer, drew his pistol and fired until he ran out of ammunition.
He turned and picked up a discarded carbine and continued firing point-blank on the charging enemy, killing six soldiers. Despite his own wounds, including the loss of an eye, Bush drove off the Japanese and refused medical treatment until Roach was evacuated.
Then he collapsed while attempting to reach a battle aid station.
In Brokaw's book, Bush 50 years later noted: "I remember thinking as the Japanese were attacking, "Well, they may nail me, but I am going to make them pay the price.' "
Today, a military clinic on Okinawa erected in 1991 stands in memory of his deed during the battle, in which the Japanese lost 310,000 and America's casualties numbered 49,151.
To members of today's generation Bush said that "everyone does what he has to do ... Look what was before our generation.
"The opportunities today are tenfold of what they were before and today's generation should take advantage of every opportunity ... You never know what you can do unless you try, and you can't succeed unless you try."
