Robert Vaughn Brashears was born on July 7, 1915 in the house built by his father in 1909. He attended South Fork School for grades 1 through 7 and grade 8 at Perry Elementary School as his sister and brother were in high school and commuting in a Model T Ford. The family paid a small tuition for “Bobby” to attend Perry School.
Bob graduated from Perry High School on 19 May 1933 and worked on his boyhood farm with his dad and brother until WWII except for 1 semester at the University of Missouri Ag School in ca 1935. He started a farm implement business with an Allis Chalmers tractor dealership in 1939 running the business from the farm and showing tractors in a rented showroom in the garage in Perry he eventually bought.
He entered the service on 20 May, 1942, at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, MO. He sent a post card dated 16 June 1942 to his mother commenting that 14 June was the coldest day on record for St. Louis and that he did not know when he would be leaving. He noted his unit as Flight C, 28 I.S.S.(S) in the post card. During World War II, the 1st Army Air Corps Replacement and Training Center was established at Jefferson Barracks, and served as an induction center and subsequently as a separation center, basic training camp and technical school for the Army Air Force. The Barracks was also a detention camp for Axis prisoners of war. He was quickly transferred to Chanute Field in Rantoul, IL for Aircraft Maintenance School (AM School) where he trained as an electrical specialist. The host unit was 9th Air Base Sq (Special), 17 February 1941 - 1 May 1944. His grades were outstanding and he was offered pilot training but upon mentioning the opportunity to his mother while on leave, Susie had a "fit" and she did not want any part of that ... so that was that!
In January 1943, Bob headed by rail to Atlantic City, NJ, for 2 weeks of "overseas replacement training.” He stayed in the Hotel Strand on the famed “Boardwalk” and had guard duty at the hotel (in 2 hour shifts) and drilled at a field about a mile south down the Boardwalk and west to the field. The war was hot and heavy in Europe (Italy) and the troops thought they were headed east. This proved not the case and Bob headed by rail on 7 March, to Slidell, LA, near New Orleans, for 6 weeks of waiting. His route took him home for a brief leave and then on to Slidell after his 3-day furlough. He was delayed starting his furlough as his guard duty replacement did not show and all were trained never to leave their post. Bob stayed until a replacement relieved him and then headed to the sergeant to explain his situation. The sergeant was unimpressed and would not extend his leave as he had missed the last train to Missouri that day. The sergeant just said, “you want furlough … get out of here!” When repeating the story, Bob said things like that formed his overall impression of the Army.
From Slidell, a boat trip to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba was the next leg of his journey. After a few days of forming a "convoy" for German sub protection, he began the trip to Puerto Rico (via Trinidad). After a few days on the boat, the convoy headed north from the southernmost island, just 7 miles off of the coast of Venezuela, to San Juan, Puerto Rico. He then departed via trucks to Aguadilla and Borinquen Field on the northwest corner of the island where he was stationed for a year. Bob often said that that year was the slowest of his life, as the troops had nothing to do. Subsequent events explain why!
In April of 1944, he was transferred to Alamogordo Air Field, NM. He traveled via ship to New York and then by rail to Mexico, MO, where he was met by Preacher T. M. Barbee who transported Bob to the farm of Sarah Jo and Ottie Roth for his furlough. After 22 days of leave, he departed Mexico by rail to Kansas City and then onto Alamogordo where he was stationed until May 1945. He was with the “680th Bombardment Squadron (4 December 1944 - 10 May 1945) B-29 Squadron of 504th Bombardment Group. Trained on B-29s, assigned to Twentieth Air Force at Tinian.”
He met Gail Dollins at the First Baptist Church at 1100 Michigan Avenue in Alamogordo, NM, shortly after his arrival. The preacher had invited the GI's to sing in the choir, so Bob and a buddy, Alva Carr, did. Gail was the pianist and the romance began. They were married some months later on 20 October 1944 in Las Cruces at the First Baptist Church and spent the night in El Paso where they honeymooned for a few days.
On 10 May 1945, Bob left Alamogordo for the Pacific Theater. He went by rail to Seattle via Phoenix and Los Angeles. A 2-week trip onboard the USS Zoella Lykes via Pearl Harbor put him at his destination, Tinian Island, the home of the Enola Gay and the atomic bomb deployment mission. Upon his arrival, he introduced himself to his new 5' 7" crew chief who was with the plane "Ace of the Base" Bob had been assigned to maintain. The plane also had an ace of spades painted on the nose along with the name. His chief said "you’re just the man I need.” He went on to explain that a new B-29A with only 4 missions completed was having problems when switching from one engine to the other. The engine speed would drop 150 rpm and that was the borderline allowable or the plane was considered not flight worthy. After every mission, the flight crew wrote up their observation and the ground crew would try to fix the problem but to no avail. The crew chief started the engines and demonstrated the drop and sure enough 150 rpm was lost upon switching to the left engine. After listening to the engines, Bob said to the crew chief that the magneto timing on the left engine "sounded slow." Bob then opened up the magneto and "widened the points" without a gauge, just the amount he thought would break contact sooner thereby hopefully correcting the problem. After closing up, the crew chief restarted the engines and sure enough, the rpm did not drop even 1 rev on switching, to which the crew chief asked, "what in the heck did you do"?
The "Ace of the Base" was built in Renton, WA, and delivered to the USAAF on 6 April 1945. The new B-29A-35-BN Superfortress was assigned to the 504th Bomb Group on Tinian. The aircraft was flown from the Renton Airfield to the Marianis departing in May 1945. The Tinian Flight Crew was led by Pilot Les Urquhart with Joel Feigenbaum as the right blister gunner and Mason Brownell Fitch, a 19 year-old from Rochester, NY, as the radar operator. Mason was known as "Mase from the Ace of the Base."
The "Ace of the Base" arrived on Tinian in late May and flew missions on 1 June, 5 June, 7 June and 15 June before Bob arrived. The mission on 17 June to bomb Yokkaichi, South of Osaka, was Bob's "1st Mission" on Tinain.
The "Ace of the Base" was reclaimed at Pyote Air Force Base on 23 Jun 1954 as one of the last B-29s scrapped. The Ace sat alongside the Enola Gay at Pyote in 1946 and continued at Pyote until being called into service in the Korean War.
It is clear that Bob's training was all part of the preparation of the secret plan to drop the atomic bomb on Japan and his B-29 training was part of the logistics and combat support required for the Manhattan Project to succeed, including his year of waiting in Puerto Rico and his assignment to Alamogordo.
On 25 October 1945, Bob headed back to the States onboard the USS Winged Arrow. Very rough seas produced 17 days of complete sickness on the ship even for the Navy sailors, but he arrived in Pittsburg, CA, on Saturday, 10 Nov 1945, in the early evening. He recounted how "good" the sunlit houses on the West Coast of San Francisco looked as they sailed toward the Golden Gate. The USS Winged Arrow docked at Pier 15 in San Francisco and the tropps transferred to ferries for the 40 mile excursion to Camp Stoneman in Pittsburg, CA. Upon docking and checking in at Camp Stonemen, Bob called Alamogordo and learned Gail was in the hospital in labor and had been there since Friday. He asked and received permission for immediate leave to return to Alamogordo as Melvin Richard was due to be born anytime. The service desk securred Bob a seat on a plane departing from San Francisco Airport to El Paso although he was not confirmed on the second leg of the flight from Tucson to El Paso. Upon arriving in Tucson, he asked the pilots “is there any chance of me riding in the baggage compartment if my seat does not clear.” The pilots said “officially … no” leaving the possibility open. Fortunately his seat cleared and he arrived in El Paso late that evening. He took a bus from El Paso to Alamogordo arriving just after midnight. Upon arrival he learned that Melvin Richard had been born about 13 hours earlier and all was well. The hospital was located at 1209 Ohio Avenue. Melvin was born at 11:11 AM on 11/11. Bob separated from the Army on 13 December at Fort Bliss Separation Center, Biggs Field, El Paso, TX.
Bob and Gail left for Perry in Gail’s 1941 Chevy in mid January 1946 with their new son Melvin Richard. The proud grandparents saw Melvin for the first time. They returned to Alamogordo in late February to prepare for the permanent move to Perry. After renting a trailer for Gail’s possessions, including her piano, they headed back to Perry arriving in late April.
Bob purchased their home at 204 East Jefferson from William H. Robey for $4300. The house was new but rented to Robert E. Allen. Bob called Robey in Kansas City to buy the house and he was told to talk to Allen to which Bob replied, I do not want to talk to Bob Allen, I want to talk to you! How much do you want for the house? Robey said all he wanted was what it cost him to build, $4300. Bob said consider it sold! Bob and Gail raised their three children in the house and Bob lived in the house until 1991, five years after Gail died in 1986. Bob owned the house until his death in 2008 and the house is still used by the family for Perry visits.
On 22 April 1945, Bob and Gail and their son moved into their new house. Bob then purchased the “Ford” garage on Main Street in May 1945 for $12,000 and opened “Brashears Motor Company” with an Oliver farm implement business and an "Associate Dodge Dealership" under Marshall Willy Dodge located in Hannibal, MO. The business was immediately successful and Bob expanded with his own Plymouth, Dodge and Desoto Dealerships in 1953 and added RCA and Zenith Dealerships in 1955.
A second son, Donald Robert was born in 1947 and a daughter, Patricia Gail in 1950. All three children attended Perry Elementary School and Mark Twain High School with Melvin being in the first class to attend the new Mark Twain High School for four years. His freshman year was housed in Perry High School as the new building in Center, MO, was being completed. For the remaining three years, all classes were in the new building.
Bob and his brother Richard were partners in farming row crop and in early 1951 added sharecrop land on the “old Suedmeier place” very near the B. F. Vaughn homestead he grew up on. He purchased his birthplace farm (160 acres of the original 640 acre B. F. Vaughn Homestead) from O. B. Vaughn on 2 June 1966, the “Erb” farm had been purchased on 2 March 1959 and earlier on 14 November 1957, he purchased the "Shepard" 40 acres near the "Junction." Bob continued to farm the three purchased farms until the crop year of 2005. He sold his farm implement business in 1971, selling the building to the city of Perry for just what he had paid for the building in 1945. The building is currently "City Hall" and houses the city offices and the Perry Fire Department.
Robert Vaughn Brashears
1915 - 2008
