WWII veterans Bob Lowe, Semper Fi

Bob Lowe, who died Aug. 6, after a long life of patriotism, philanthropy, and civic leadership, was one of the last of the survivors of Japan’s surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941.
That Sunday began with the promise of another idyllic day in Hawaii, but then, Bob told me some years ago, “all hell broke loose.” At 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time, the first of 353 Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes, launched from six aircraft carriers, swept over Oahu and began bombing battleships at anchor in Pearl Harbor. Almost simultaneously they began strafing and bombing U.S. planes at nearby Hickham Field.
More than 2,400 people died that morning, hundreds of planes were destroyed before they could get airborne, and a fleet containing eight battleships was ruined.
Young Marine Bob Lowe was stationed at Hickham Field that fateful day and, even many years later, recalled it as if it had been only yesterday, He remembered first the complete surprise the Japanese achieved. He was in his barracks when he and others were startled by the bomb blasts. “At first we didn’t understand what was going on, and then we couldn’t believe it,” he said.
And then came frustration because he could do virtually nothing to fight back. The Marines had nothing but World War I-vintage rifles to fight with, and those rifles were locked up behind a recalcitrant sergeant who had no orders to open the armory and wouldn’t do it until he got them.
“We found a pile of potatoes behind the mess hall,” Bob told me. “So there we were, United States Marines, some of us in our boxer shorts, throwing potatoes at Japanese fighter planes.”
The Marines finally threatened to beat the sergeant to a bloody pulp and he released the rifles that allowed them to fire futilely at enemy planes well beyond their range—with no more effect than lobbing potatoes.
Soon enough Bob got to fight the enemy with a little more firepower and a little more success. His First Marine Defense Battalion saw action across the Pacific — at Wake Island, Johnston Island, in the Marshall and Marianas islands, and on Guam. But the potato story in a way epitomizes Bob Lowe. Throughout his life he used what was at hand as best he could to further those things he cared about—and he cared about many things and used his tools well.
I think I first came to know him well about 50 years ago, when he was a prime mover in establishing the Alleman Center to provide support and employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. He was also a founding director and for many years board president of the 232-HELP education and referral center that provides wide and varied programs ranging from help with the milk bill to medical care.
There were many more good works, public and private, over his long life, but nobody will dispute that the work closest to his heart was for a better life for veterans, with just a little bias toward Marines.
Bob was a commander and member of American Legion Post 69 in Lafayette, and kept the post running several years ago when it was in financial trouble. He was a life member of the Marine Corps League, served as an executive board member of the Veterans Action Coalition of Southwest Louisiana, and was a member of Lafayette Central Park Veterans Memorial Foundation. He was still at work almost to the last day of his life, campaigning for a full-fledged Veterans Affairs medical facility in Acadiana.
That was the way he was. When Bob believed something needed to be done, he worked until it was done. His beloved Marines have a phrase for that: Semper Fi (Always Faithful).
He was that.
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O., Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.