John Roger Bateman
Flew in south Pacific
John Roger Bateman
Lieutenant (junior grade), U.S. Navy
1945-1950
SA John Roger Bateman,
Butte, MT, 1945
I had no effect on WWII. I was too young and too late. But it had a profound effect on me. It changed my life.
I was born in Medford, Oregon in 1927, and was 14 when the war started. I graduated from high school at 16 and won a competitive four-year scholarship to the University of Redlands. I went for one year, and a fellow in my dorm applied for flight training with the Navy and was accepted. I thought I would too. My father was dead-set against me going in at 17. He finally agreed. I took the written exam and passed, and failed the physical. I had a deviated septum. Even though he was against me going, he had a doctor come and un-deviate my septum.
I reported back to the Navy with rubber tubes up my nose and a note saying my septum was no longer deviated.
I joined in 1945. I flew biplanes at first. We flew out of Rodd Field in Corpus Christi and did small field landings. I mis-estimated once and took a fence with me. They thought I’d been chasing cows.
I stayed in by a vote of three to two. We learned how to land on a carrier, and flew sea planes, then PBMs. In 1948 I joined a VP-42 squadron. We flew out of China, Japan, Saipan and the Philippines. About that time, the secretary of defense cut way back on how much we could fly. Just before the Korean War, our squadron was basically the Navy air presence in the Pacific.
One really bad day we were loaded pretty heavy. I was navigating at the time.We took off from Saipan and it felt like we’d flown into the side of a mountain. The flaps came up too fast and we stalled onto a reef. We bounced back in the air, and hit the reef again. They put more power on those engines than there is, and got back up, but we’d torn the plane up pretty badly. We flew for ten hours circling Saipan. We didn’t want to land at night since the bottom of the plane was gone. The next morning the whole island turned out to watch. We came in and when we hit the water, some of the crew lost it. I had never seen panic like that. When we got back in the air, one man tried to bail out, and the flight engineer froze at the controls. People were writing their last will and testament. Ten of the 13 crew, including the senior pilot, quit flying the next day. This is a strange thing, and this is what happens when you’re young. It was exciting, and I didn’t have enough sense to be scared. I’d be scared now.
I got out in 1950 as an ensign. I was in the reserves for another nine years and made lieutenant (jg). I went back to school at the University of California and got my bachelor’s and master’s in business administration. I received a graduate scholarship from Standard Oil Company. After I graduated, they put me in a training program. I started in accounting. My wife was from Corpus and her parents recommended we move back there. I said, ‘Find me a job as great as Standard Oil.’ A CPA firm contacted me, I came to Corpus and was in public accounting for five years.
Then I went to work for Coastal Corporation. I became vice president and treasurer. In 1966 I left and had my own investment company.
There was one thing I never forgot. I started college under a scholarship. The GI Bill sent me to college, and Standard Oil gave me the graduate scholarship. My wife and I started our own scholarship program 65 years ago, and I’ve been giving scholarships ever since.
I had no effect on WWII. I was too young and too late. But it had a profound effect on me. It changed my life.
I’m proud to have served. My horizons were very narrow before I went into the Navy. I’m so grateful that I learned to fly. I flew until I was too old. I’ve had a good life, and I’m still having a good life. {11-26-2019 • Corpus Christi, TX}