"You just sat down there with the sweat pouring off of you," Bob recalls of his days in combat while stationed on the electrical deck of thebattleship, USS Maryland. Born in Yonkers, New York, Bob grew up in a coldwater tenement. He enlisted in the Navy and was shipped out in 1943 aboard the USS Pennsylvania to Hawaii. There he was placed aboard the Maryland as an Electrician Third Class. Bob served in the battles of Tarawa, Kwajalien, Saipan, Tinian, the Battle of Suriago Straits, and Okinawa. He stayed in the Navy after the war, and was discharged in late 1948 as an Electrician Second Class. A few years later he moved to Shreveport and spent most of his career with Honeywell Corporation.