Brad Johnson: World War II veteran remembers mistake that sent weather ship into typhoon

As a typhoon headed for Guam and the Philippines during World War II, Navy Lt. Bob Meyer steered his 180-feet-long ship in a direction he believed would lead it out of harm’s way.

“Instead, someone on land messed up and gave us the wrong information and sent us directly into the typhoon,” he said.

The Patrol Class Escort ship had done its job, launching its weather balloon earlier in the day. The small ship, by WW II standards, wasn’t meant to battle typhoons.

It was Meyer’s turn to be officer of the day, or temporary captain, when the wrong directions were relayed.

As the typhoon intensified and the ship pitched and rolled in the angry, crashing waves, the approximately 22-year-old Meyer did his best to keep the ship full of about 100 men upright.

“I thought for sure we were going to go down,” he said. “I can remember standing straight up with my left arm extended fully out holding onto a post that held the compass. I remember clearly how we rolled in the sea.”

Meyer, a longtime Watertown resident, now lives in Omaha, Neb., near two of his children. He celebrated his 99th birthday in March and is part of a rapidly dwindling group of WW II veterans.

A college student when the war started, Meyer was studying pre-med at the University of Minnesota when he enlisted in the naval reserve in 1942. All naval reserve members soon were called to active duty and, after finishing his pre-medical college course, he was sent to a naval hospital near Chicago where he served as a corpsman, “the lowest paid position in the navy," he noted.

He was offered an opportunity to return to college to attend dental school, but he declined as his goal was to be a medical doctor. So instead, he was sent to officer training school, followed by radar school and finally gunnery where he learned to fire the 5-inch guns, as well as the 20-millimeter and 40-millimeter naval guns.

After receiving his first officer commission as a lieutenant, junior class, he was sent to Oregon where he boarded his new ship, which would become an important part of the navy’s weather forecasting fleet.

Meyer said they had barely gotten out into the ocean “when I got sicker than a dog. It was a real struggle.”

That would soon pass and never again would he get seasick, not even in the two typhoons.

The type of ships Meyer was assigned to originally were designed as coastal escort vehicles. They also were used as rescue ships for pilots who had been shot down.

But 17 of these ships were re-fitted to house weather balloons and electronics. They were lightly equipped with guns, but the ship Meyer was on never needed to use its armaments.

Each day, Meyer said, the ship would launch a large weather balloon filled with electronics. Weather information was then relayed to shore-based facilities. The ships were instrumental in keeping the U.S. Navy abreast of weather conditions.

After 18 months at sea, it was Meyer’s turn to go home and become part of “The Greatest Generation” of WW II veterans who would build our country.

He boarded a large troop ship in Subic Bay, Philippines, and on the first morning decided to take a stroll along the top deck. He was amazed at how quiet the ship was.

“Everyone on board was seasick” it seemed, except Meyer. “You get over that when you are on a 180-foot ship for 18 months,” he said. “You really get used to it when you ride out the storms.”

He returned to complete his medical degree at the U of M, eventually studying to become a radiologist.

A chance meeting led him to moving to Watertown in the early 1970s where he and his wife Betty purchased a home on Lake Kampeska and finished raising their four children.

He continued working, at least part-time, until fully retiring at age 88.

Throughout his career, he never forgot riding out that first typhoon on a ship designed to predict the weather.

“I probably should have been deathly afraid,” he said. “But I was too young to be afraid. I certainly wouldn’t want to experience that today.”

Brad Johnson is a Watertown businessman and journalist who is active in state and local affairs.

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Navy veteran recalls riding out typhoon on WWII weather ship