Robert Apple / Denise Goolsby, The Desert Sun
Robert Apple and his wife, Patricia, on their wedding day.
Robert Apple
Age: 87
Residence: Rancho Mirage
Military branch: U.S. Navy; U.S, Naval Academy graduate, class of 1943
Years served: Entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1940; entered active duty in 1943; retired in January, 1964
Rank: Entered active duty as an ensign after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy. Apple attained the rank of commander by the time he retired in 1964.
Family: Wife Patricia, three children, 8 grandchildren, three great-grandchildren
About this series
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II on a regular basis through the end of 2010 — the 65th anniversary of the end of the war. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
Read the rest
Find the tales of other World War II veterans that have been featured in the pages of The Desert Sun online at mydesert.com/wwii
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The outbreak of World War II accelerated Robert Apple's graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.
The four-year college curriculum was compressed into three years due to the urgent need to get men graduated and into active duty as officers.
Apple had been in the academy for a year and a half before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
After the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, Apple and his classmates crammed enough coursework in by June 1943, to earn their bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering — and their ensign's stripes.
After graduation, Apple was sent to Jacksonville, Fla., where he received instruction in plane recognition — how to identify aircraft in flight — and how to communicate with pilots.
After training, Apple was deployed to the South Pacific, traveling 40 days across the ocean in a liberty ship.
“I caught a destroyer (USS Lamson, DD-367) in Milne Bay, New Guinea, at 10 p.m.,” after finally arriving at his assigned destination, said Apple. “It was right in the middle of the war zone.”
When Apple received his first orders, he had no idea what he was being asked to do, he said.
“The captain said, ‘We have CIC with two radars. You can be an evaluator,'” Apple said, recounting the conversation. “I didn't even know what radar was. I only heard the word once before.”
Although he had no knowledge of what the captain was talking about, he didn't ask any questions.
“I kept my mouth shut,” Apple said.
He soon discovered that CIC stood for Combat Information Center.
“A week later I was running a shore bombing,” he said.
Using radar, range and bearing, he would tell the guns where to fire.
Apple learned on the job — and quickly, at that.
“In six months, I was navigating a warship,” he said.
Apple and the crew of the USS Lamson were part of Destroyer Squadron 5.
“We made landings with the Marines all over the Pacific,” he said.
On Dec. 7, 1944, while supporting an amphibious assault by the Marines at Ormoc Bay on the island of Leyte in the Philippines, the USS Lamson came under heavy attack.
“We were in a line of destroyers parallel to the beach doing counter-battery work,” Apple said.
A plane was flown over the enemy position and reported the location of the Japanese machine gun emplacements to Apple.
Apple would then order up artillery fire.
“Right after that we started getting attacked,” he said.
Two kamikazes were headed straight for the ship. One of planes was knocked out by U.S. firepower.
“The next one hit us,” he said. “You couldn't outmaneuver them if you didn't shoot them down,” Apple said.
The kamikaze plane also carried a bomb, which caused a fierce explosion and heavy damages.
“The bomb was only about 10 feet from me,” when it hit, said Apple. “I had to jump off of the ship.”
Although he wasn't injured, “it ruined my hearing,” he said.
“We were destroyed from the main deck up,” he said. “We lost about 60 to 70 men.”
The enemy also appeared in the distant waters, heading towards the bay.
“The Japanese fleet was on the horizon, he said. “We could see their masts.”
The next morning, Apple witnessed a sight he'll never forget.
The badly damaged destroyer had been joined overnight by some very welcome visitors.
Twelve battleships, 12 cruisers and about 20 destroyers surrounded the USS Lamson.
“We were met by the entire 7th Fleet,” said Apple.
Apple, now retired, went on to serve as a U.S. Naval officer until January, 1964.
He earned his masters degree in mechanical engineering and worked for the Office of Naval Research designing machinery systems on ships.
After retirement, while vice president of Litton Ship Systems, in Beverly Hills, he competed against Newport News, Lockheed and Bethlehem Steel to design a ship that could land a military expeditionary force of 10,000 Marines — under opposition from an enemy — in three hours, with 150 M60 tanks, jeeps, trucks, and 15,000 tons of ammunition.
The year was 1969.
“In seven months, we had designed the ship,” he said.
The proposal that was submitted to the government was 33,000 pages long, in 57 volumes with 5,700 pieces of art.
Apple's design — and proposal — was the winning bid.
Litton was awarded a $1.2 billion contract for the manufacture of five new battleships.
