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Ferris, Robert_WAPA-246_WAPA 4170_OralHist_Video.mp4

Robert David Ferris was born in Milford, Connecticut on April 5, 1926. He and his family lived in Waterbury and Stratford, Connecticut. He graduated from the University of Bridgeport and joined the Marine Corps in April of 1943 when he was 17 years of age. He states that he was part of the Marine Air Group 21 based at Agana and was in VMR252 and VMR353 Squadrons while on Guam as a Crew Chief and Flight Engineer on R5C’s (Curtiss Commandos) and R5D’s (C54 Skymaster). To recap his boot camp training, Mr. Ferris went to Paris Island when he joined the Marines, and went from there to Camp Lejeune where he attended communications school and took part in advanced military/infantry training. From there he went to Cherry Point, North Carolina, Bogue Field, for Marine aviation training and finally went to Miramar, California when his training was completed and set sail on the Admiral CF Hughes for Guam and the Marianas. According to Mr. Ferris there were 5,000 men on board the ship but it was a varied group of Marines. They did not know where they were headed. They made a 3-day stop in Hawaii and spent 14 days out at sea on a zigzag trip across the Pacific to Guam. Mr. Ferris recounted that his cousin had been present at Pearl Harbor and was also a plane captain in the Marines as well as a gunner. Mr. Ferris was a personal friend of Bob Galer and spent a lot of time conversing with him about the events at Pearl Harbor, recounting that every MAG-21 airplane there had been destroyed that day. Bob arrived on Guam in November of 1944. He states that there was only one runway that was 2800 feet long at the time. They had TVM’s, Corsairs, and C46’s an C54’s however the Marines on Guam at that time concentrated on transport capacity to support the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions as at the time the B29 air assaults were taken directly to Japan. He also stated that his group had squadrons on Saipan and Tinian. Mr. Ferris described the Seabees as “better businessmen than the Marines,” and that it was through the cooperation and teamwork of all branches stationed on Guam that allowed the men to improve their way of life while there. For recreation, the men played softball, volleyball and went swimming in Tumon Bay. He recounts a story where the airmen would give the Seabees inner tubes that had blown out and they would cut them into 2-inch strips and build bed frames and weave them across and sell them back for $6.00, but they were much more comfortable than a cot. He describes a kind of barter/cooperation situation along with American ingenuity that allowed the Air Force, Marines, and Seabees to survive during those difficult times. Bob states that he does know some Chamorro people and said, “you know, there’s some sort of a love affair going on between Chamorros and the Marines,” but for the most part he had little contact with the people because at that time they were concentrating on caring for the thousands of Marines coming back from Iwo Jima and Okinawa. However, he spoke about Ben Blaz and a Mr. Castro who had been slave laborers during the Japanese occupation of Guam and that they were “marvelous examples” of the Chamorro’s and describes them as very loving, kind people. Mr. Ferris was not personally aware of any atrocities perpetrated against the Japanese after the surrender of Guam. He stated that those Japanese who were brought to Guam from Rota were treated pretty much as equals. Although they lived in a barbed wire compound, they lived in the tents that the Marines had lived in and ate the same food. They were given medical attention, but overall, he felt that from his observation most of the Japanese prisoners were in fairly good physical health and were not plagued by some of the malaria or dengue fever. Bob left the Marine Corps in June of 1946 and served for 4 years in the Reserves at the Naval Air Station in Dallas, Texas. He became an industrial engineer and worked for ROT Aircraft, the developer of the Corsair airplane. He states that ROT developed the Crusader aircraft and was involved in the development of the Regulus 1 and Regulus 2 missiles that he described as light years ahead of their time. He was also involved in the development in the 1980’s of the HARM Missile and Paveway missiles and ATACM’s that were fired during the Saudi War. Mr. Ferris speaks fondly of his Commanding Officer, Colonel Sam Moore, and had an opportunity to visit with him several times after the war. He believes Col. Moore has a very excellent philosophy of life and had related to Bob that the reason we won World War II was the fact that “every private, every corporal, every sergeant, every man did his individual job at the right time.”

U.S. National Park Service, War in the Pacific National Historical Park

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War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Code: WAPA

Guam , Guam
War in the Pacific National Historical Park, Guam , Guam
Latitude: 13.3905000686646, Longitude: 144.654006958008

ICMS (Interior Collection Managment System) : WAPA-00246
NPS Museum Number Catalog : WAPA 4170

War in the Pacific Oral Histories

2025/03/07

T. Stell Newman Visitor Center, Collections room, Safe and Shelf SLF D-01

Public Can View

Rose Manibusan, Jennifer Craig

Organization: American Memorial Park
Role: Chief Interpretation
Address: Micro Beach Road, Garapan, Mp 96950
Email: wapa_interpretation@nps.gov

Sunday, April 6, 2025 1:02:49 AM

Sunday, April 6, 2025 1:02:49 AM

Ferris, Robert_WAPA-246_WAPA 4170_OralHist_Video.mp4

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1404.5 MB

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