Robert G. Solterbeck Reminisces on Three Decades in the Service of God and Country
War vet Robert G. Solterbeck looks back on fighting in the Aleutian campaign, surviving six amphibious landings, and singing for the troops

TORRINGTON, WY, August 20, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ --"...And I [was] about as close to [it] as I am to you," recalled Robert G. Solterbeck, describing in a recent interview a plane crash that he witnessed in Okinawa during WWII. An old-school gentleman in suspenders and spectacles, Mr. Solterbeck is now a tamer version of the strapping sailor and combat engineer immortalized in his collection of black and white photographs. Still deeply proud of his membership in the acclaimed "Greatest Generation," he tells action-packed tales of derring-do from WWII, as well as the Korean and Vietnam wars. He remembers, for example, every detail of that crash in the rice paddies, such as reaching the wreckage first, rushing to cut the pilot from his harness and helping carry him to safety. "[We] were 30 feet away when the airplane blew up," he continued, then quipped, "I may have hurt [the pilot] more than the crash did, because I fell on top of him [after] the blast!"

A veritable repository of war stories, Mr. Solterbeck spent most of his 40-year career in the service of God and country. He joined the Naval Construction Battalion in February 1942 as a 20-year-old farm boy from Idaho and was soon deployed to Dutch Harbor, Unalaska after two weeks in boot camp. Together with the Army and his fellow Seabees, he fought to eject the Japanese from the islands of Attu and Kiska - the only pieces of American territory, he is quick to point out, that Japan had ever occupied. After 13 months in the Aleutian Peninsula, Mr. Solterbeck embarked on a tour of the Pacific islands, where he saw more than just fighting. An avid singer to this day, he was given the opportunity to perform alongside a popular big band orchestra that was entertaining the troops. "I attended a show with Kay Kyser and his band," he said. "One of the features of the show was to have a sailor sing with them. I was selected and sang 'Embraceable You' with Georgia Carroll sitting on my lap."

He was in Okinawa in August of 1945. "[We were] staging to go into Japan when President Truman dropped the bomb and the war ended," he shared. "A lot of us were relieved we didn't have to make that landing." A survivor of no less than six amphibious landings, Mr. Solterbeck knows he was lucky to have emerged from WWII unscathed. Requiring the coordination of land, air and sea tactics, so-called amphib landings generally claim the lives of a third of the soldiers who attempt them. "I made six without a scratch. I've maintained all of my life that I had the best protector in the world," he smiled.

A decorated WWII veteran - he was honored with the Navy and Marine Corps Medal - Mr. Solterbeck decided to continue working with the United States Department of Defense after the war. He was noted for his expertise in machine maintenance, and was appointed as an advisor on engineer supply and maintenance to the Korean Army from 1967 to 1968. He was transferred to Okinawa in 1968 and spent the rest of the Vietnam War there. He made frequent trips to the Southeast Asian country, where he was in charge of the heavy equipment maintenance battalion repair shop as a member of the second Logistical Command Headquarters.

Promoted a number of times, Mr. Solterbeck returned to the U.S. as equipment manager of the Sharpe Army Depot in California and later became chief of the Depot Shops Division of the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, TX. In both bases, he served as the U.S. government's chief labor contract negotiator, drawing on his previous experience as a member of the negotiating team that forged the Status of Forces agreement with the Japanese government. At Red River, Mr. Solterbeck oversaw all maintenance jobs, handling everything from trucks and tanks to weapons and missiles. He is credited for helping overhaul programs that reduced costs without sacrificing quality. Under him, the depot lowered the cost of over half of the Army's armored personnel carrier program from $85,000 per unit to under $60,000 in an 18-month period. They used the same method with other programs, all achieving similar results. Fulfilled by what he had accomplished, Mr. Solterbeck concluded his DOD career here, after three decades of service.

After retiring in 1982 from civil service, Mr. Solterbeck worked in the private sector for 10 years. He enjoyed success as the fuel manager of a coal yard for American Electric Power, which handled more than three million tons of coal per year. His experience in the military, however, always stayed with him. Whenever he is asked how he managed to thrive in every endeavor that he took on, he gives a steady answer. "I always figured that every job was an opportunity and a challenge," he said. "And I have an old motto that comes from my Seabee days: 'The hard, we do immediately. The impossible takes just a little longer.'"

Robert G. Solterbeck may be reached via Email at solterbeck@scottsbluff.net.

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