Remembering Them Forever (RTF)!
Cox, Robert Milton
- Texas, Ellis County, United States
Military Information:
- US Navy
- TVHOF Patriot Award
- 1-Alpha List
- National/American Defense Service Medal/Award
- Korean Service Medal
- TVHOF Class of 2025
- United Nations Service Medal
- Dental Officer
Dates of Service 1:
Service Start Date: NA Service End Date: NA
Dates of Service 2:
Service Start Date: NA Service End Date: NA
Bio:
I wanted to be a dentist so I was able to enroll early in the accelerated pre-dental program at John Tarleton University in Stephenville. I then transferred to the pre-dental program at Baylor College of Dentistry in Waco and was awarded a Bachelors Degree in 1951. I finished schooling at Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas where I was awarded a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1953.
While I was in school, I was the youngest student in my suite. 80% of the dental students had served in the military in WW2 so they were much older then me. One had served as a B-24 pilot. Because of their experience they proved to be important mentors.
My best friend Clyde, a Marine, had fought during the attacks on the Pacific Islands Bourganville, Tarawa, and Okinawa. His assignment was dangerous because he was the point person who would show the flame throwers where there were Japanese soldiers hiding in caves. I remember one very funny story. Clyde went outside in his skivvies to pick up his newspaper. A car was coming so he turned and ran back toward the house and jammed his toe on the step. His toe was black and blue so he wrapped it so he could still see patients. He would inject Novocain into his toe and then glide up and down the hall on a stool until he ran over a piece of gum on the floor that brought him to a jarring halt. He was very embarrassed because his patients had been watching and were laughing at his theatrics.
One other funny story. I was fishing with my friend and his wife. When she cast her lure the hook got caught in my friend’s nose. It was terribly painful but I couldn’t help laughing. He shared that in all of his time in WW2 attacking Islands I was never wounded. But now I’m out of the army and get wounded by a hook my nose.
I was married in dental school and remember an amusing incident. Before we were married, we were very good friends and had been very active in the Baptist Student Union. We were walking home in the cold and her brother walked up and asked her if she had left her coat at home. Her brother, who had served in the Army in WW2, was with us. He was wearing a Pea Coat and told her to put her left hand in his coat pocket. I came up on the other side and told her to put her right hand in his coat pocket. So there we were walking together with both of her hands protected from the cold.
We were later married in August, 1951 in Waco. She supported me while I was finishing my schooling. I received my Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1953.
Another interesting story. My wife’s cousin had served on the USS Indianapolis. The ship had supported the attacks on Okinawa and had received serious damage. The ship was sent back to the US to be repaired and then was ordered to sail back to Tarawa Island in the Pacific. A large box had been secretly loaded on the ship which contained the Atomic Bomb. After the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Indianapolis was sailing back to the US. The Captain considered the war was over so he was not taking any precautions as the ship was sailing. A Japanese submarine spotted the ship and fired several torpedoes that sank the ship. Her cousin was in the water for 7 days before he was rescued. His skin was peeling as a result of the exposure to the salt water. Approximately 880 sailors and Marines drowned and were killed making it the worst loss of life from a single ship in US Navy history.
It was 1953 and many of the reserve soldiers who had fought inWW2 were being called up for service in Korea. 600,000 North Korean soldiers had attacked south capturing Seoul and pushing the Republic of Korean and US Army infantry back to the Pusan Perimeter in the southeast peninsula.
I received a telegraph that my orders had been delayed. But I was soon ordered to report to the Naval Air Station Ship docks in Alameda. I was assigned as the Dentist on the on the Naval Escort Carrier, Esperance, CVU 88. During WW2, the Esperance transported new combat ready aircraft as well as personnel to strategic locations in the Pacific including the Philippines, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. During the Korean War, the Esperance continued to ferry aircraft and personnel from the US to bases in Japan.
The Esperance was being taken to Korea so I was able to visit my wife for 3 to 5 days. When I returned to the Naval Air Station, the ship had already sailed. I flew out of Barber’s Point on the southwest point of Oahu where the Naval Station was located. An Albatross sea bird flew into the plane and caused considerable damage to our plane so we had to make an emergency landing on Midway Island. We had to wait because one of the props had to be repaired.
We then flew to Japan and landed at the Naval Base at Soogie Bay in Oura Bay, Unfortunately the Esparence had already sailed so we traveled to the Marine Corps Air Station at Iwakuni. Again the ship had already sailed so we traveled to Kure, located just south of Hiroshima, Kure was one of the largest ship building facilities and Naval Bases in Japan. The massive battleship Yamato had been built and launched from Kure. Fortunately, we were able to board the Esparence.
The slips were located along the sides of the mountains where you could still see iron defensive doors along the ridges. Kure had been bombarded regularly by the US Airforce. We joined a bus load of sailors who were visiting the Japanese interior. We were 30 miles from Tokyo so we were able to visit the Imperial Palace. One very interesting building was the Imperial Hotel which had been designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1923. The hotel was designed to withstand an earthquake which was proven when the hotel survived the disastrous Great Kanto earthquake in 1923. We visited the Skischi Room in the hotel where Japanese woman cooked meals. I remember how difficult it was for us to stand up after sitting for so long. Before sailing back to the US we picked up some New Zealand entertainers at their base in Kure who were going to Korea to do shows for the troops.
We sailed back to the Naval Station at Coronado, San Diego. We thought we were going to be able to get some leave so I could see my wife. We had to be inspected by a Marine Rear Admiral attache, Navy protocol required he should wear a sword around his waist. At one point the sword was dropped. Even though we were at Parade Rest, we couldn’t control ourselves and started laughing.
We then learned our orders had been changed and we were ordered to sail to Mobile, Alabama to pick up a load of planes to bring to Japan. We were very unhappy with the change in orders. We had to sail through the Panama Canal but out ship was too wide to sail through it. So we had to wait. The crew was very unhappy so the Captain said to get in the water. He wanted us to hunt for turtles for food so we caught two large ones. The Captain wanted me and the physician to certify that the turtles were safe to eat. But I wasn’t sure I knew how to certify that. We eventually verified it so I spoke with the cook and soon the turtles were certified for safe eating so we feasted on turtle soup.
We picked up 50 to 80 planes planes in Mobile and sailed back through the canal and headed to Japan. I was very busy on the ship filling cavities, and pulling molars because the returning soldiers had a lot of dental problems. I also assisted in an appendix operation. My only non dental surgical procedure. The physician was from California and trained at the University of Michigan and suffered terribly from sea sickness. We were constantly having to tie down our instruments because of the rocking of the ship especially when we sailed to within 300 miles of a typhon. The sickbay was located on the 2nd level midship below the Quarter deck.
On the way we stopped at Pearl Harbor. It was 1955, just 15 years after the devastating Japanese attack. We could still observe the upper structure of the USS Arizona which had settled to the bottom of the harbor. Its burned and damaged supper structures and gun turrets could still be seen above the water line. We tied up next to the USS Utah which had capsized and was lying on its side. Some of us disembarked and joined a tour of the submarine base. One of my friends knew a dentist who practiced in Honolulu.
We sailed back to Alameda where the ship was put into dry dock for repairs. My wife Dee had gone back to Texas with our son. She returned to Alameda and I settled her in an upstairs apartment over a dentist office. After I sailed out she moved to a downstairs apartment. We were in Alameda for 17 days while the ship was being repaired. I then received orders to sail back to Mobile transporting 500 ship crews, tanks, trucks, and Army vehicles. The Korean War had ended so personnel and equipment needed to be transported. I remember an unfortunate incident that occurred along the way. A new Ensign ROTC graduate, had been assigned to the ship. Since he needed to be assigned to a responsibility he was out in charge of refueling. He was bringing out the hoses but ordered them be removed to soon. This resulted in a dangerous oil slick. Which would have been a disaster if they had caught on fire.
As my time in the Navy was drawing to an end I learned that the Esperance was ordered to sail to the Naval Air Dental School of Dentistry in Corpus Christi. Looking back on my military career on the Esperance I believed very strongly that God had preserved my life so I could have a have a family once i left the Navy. Thankfully, I made contact with a friend in Victoria who told me that he had a friend in Waxahachie who was moving to California and wanted to sell his practice. I believed God had ordained that I was to take over the dentist practice in Ellis County. So in 1955 I moved my family to Waxahachie.
So I had 4 children, 13 grandchildren, and 26th great grandchild. He was a member of the Waxahachie Lions Club for 69 years.
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