Johnston veteran recalls bullet whizzing by his face in WWII
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JOHNSTON -- Robert Horner was shot at several times while serving with the 534th Amphibious Battalion during World War II.
"I was working on my tank one day, and I felt a bullet whiz past my ear," Horner said. "It was so close to me that I could feel the heat radiating from it. It plopped into the water in front of me and next thing I knew, a fellow soldier was yelling 'we got him.' I didn't see who it was because I took cover in my tank."
Horner, now 95, was just 18 when he was drafted into the Army on May 4, 1943. He was living in Reynoldsville, Pa. (near Altoona), at the time.
He completed six weeks of basic training at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. He was supposed to have a one-week leave before he was shipped overseas, but after just two days back home, he was summoned to Fort Ord, California, for what he was told was a "matter of urgency."
"I ended up being in California for three weeks," Horner said.
He said he wouldn't have minded the delay going into active battle, but he had just met a woman, Shirley, who later would become his wife of 74 years.
"She wrote me every day," he said. "We met in front of the five and dime store in Reynoldsville just a few weeks before that. I wanted to spend more time with her before I left."
While in California, Horner was taught to drive an amphibious unit. Those are the armored tanks with rollers on them that can travel through water.
When asked how long his training was, Horner said "not very long at all."
His unit's job was to transport soldiers, weapons, ammunition, food, supplies and other needed items on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands, which are between Hawaii and Japan in the Pacific Ocean.
"My first trip, I brought soldiers. After that, it was all guns, ammunition and food," Horner said.
He recalled one time when he was the lead merchant ship, his tank went up on a coral reef and got stuck on a jutted out stick. A wave caught the tank, and it rolled over with him inside.
"I didn't get hurt, and my buddy and I just rolled it back over and we continued on our mission," Horner said.
He said while transporting weapons to the front lines, other men in his unit would get shot at from a makeshift hut on the beach. When he transported the weapons, he said he drove right down the middle of the beach and plowed down the hut.
"I got peppered pretty good by gunfire, but nobody came out of that hut," Horner said.
Another time, Horner and his crew could see the Japanese using their big 16-inch guns to fire on a mountaintop. He said the men couldn't figure out what the enemy was firing at, but soon it became clear.
"We watched the mountaintop go up in flames and then crumble to the ground," Horner said. "It was an ammunition dumpsite."
Horner spent most of his time during the war in the Pacific Theater, Saipan and the Philippines. He almost got sent to Iwo Jima, but was rerouted elsewhere.
"It was quite a time," Horner said of his years in the Army.
He recalled once his friend hit a land mine while delivering supplies.
"His tank flew up into the air and looked lik a horseshoe. I don't think they ever found his remains," Horner said. "A lot of guys didn't make it back. I was lucky."
After being discharged in January of 1946 from Fort Knox, Kentucky, as a Technician 5th Grade, the Army wanted him to re-enlist, but Horner said no. He returned to Reynoldsburg and married Shirley four months later.
"I had enough. I wanted to go home."
mkosinski@tribtoday.com
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THIS WEEK’S VETERAN
NAME: Robert Horner
AGE: 95 (will be 96 on Sept. 7)
RESIDENCE: Johnston
SERVICE BRANCH: Army, 534th Amphibious Battalion
MILITARY HONORS: Good Conduct Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon and Arrowhead, World War II Victory Medal, Philippines Liberation Pin, Honorable Service WWII Lapel Button, Sharpshooter Badge and Rifle Bar
OCCUPATION: Van Huffel Tube, 35 years
FAMILY: wife, Shirley, of 74 years; children, Randy and Nancy (a son, Brian, was killed in a car accident in 1971); five grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.