Robert “Bob” English Reeves was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on July 3rd, 1917 and grew up living in the town of Ottumwa, Iowa with his mother Bertha and little sister Frances. In Robert’s early years he lived with his father J.W. as well, but his parents got divorced when he was a child because of his father was an alcoholic. Eventually, Robert grew up, graduated from Ottumwa High School class of 1935, got his degree at Parsons College, then two years later married the love of his life, Beulah Bishop in June of 1942. Robert was an accountant at Eagle Iron Works before World War II, and patriotic duty called Robert to want to serve. Against the wishes of his boss, Robert wanted to become an Officer in the Navy. Robert saw all of his colleagues and friends going to serve, and he felt guilty that he was at home not out serving in the War effort. Therefore after gaining weight and getting himself qualified to serve, he was entered into active service on May 25, 1944.
Robert’s World War II experience started like most men, with training. After entering into active duty he was sent to Princeton, New Jersey and spent time training. Almost a year later on March 6th, 1945, Robert’s service officially commenced and he left to serve for the United States Navy in the Philippines. At the time he left, his wife was pregnant with their child, and that made it even harder for him to leave. His daughter, Linda Marie Reeves was born while Robert was away, and there was a period of time where Robert had no idea if his child was a boy or a girl. This was extremely hard for Robert and Beulah, and it was one of the many Robert faced while away. Robert’s served in 3 units while he was overseas all in the Philippines: ACORN-45. ComAir 7th Fleet, and ComAir Philippine Sea Frontier. As a part of ACORN-45, Robert was a “seabee.” ACORN units were made for construction, and the seabees were skilled workers who were trained to put down their tools and fight in combat at a moments notice. Robert spent time as a seabee after a bombing in Manila, and later began to serve on ships. Robert spent most of his time on ships on the coast of the Philippines and worked with coding. One of his main jobs was monitoring codes. Codes were changing constantly in order to make sure no enemy ever found out secret information, and Robert was a part of managing the codes along with other daily tasks on the vessel. Whenever Robert did go on land he went into Manila, the capital of the Philippines and drove a jeep into the city center with supplies. Robert’s war experience was not one of combat; he had a gun but never had to fire it once. Beulah Reeves described his war experience as, “of the war, but not in it,” and he did his part to serve the country.
After one year and six days away from his wife, his family, and his newborn daughter, Robert was finally able to return to the United States from foreign service on March 12, 1946. Linda was 9 months old when Robert came home and at it took a little while for her to get used to her father. She had never met him before, and the first time she was placed in his arms the morning he returned she cried for he was a stranger to her. His return was a joyous occasion, and about two months later he was officially separated from active service on April 23rd, 1946. The family then moved to Long Beach, California then to Glendale, California, and together Beulah and Robert had five children: Linda, Marcia, Cheryl, Craig, and Larry Reeves. Robert was a great man, and he died in Glendale, California on August 13, 2006 at age 89.
