Delhi Historical Society

Captain Robert C. Coats

Ace in a Day

 

Robert C. Coats was born in West Monroe, in 1918, the third child and second son of Noribell and Will Coats. At an early age, he moved to Sacksonia plantation, near Delhi, La, which his Dad owned at the time. They grew cotton, had a saw mill, had tenants and many other things to interest a young lad. His mother passed away when he was very young, so his grandparents moved in to help his Dad raise the three children.  Mr. Will later married Mrs. Betty Coats, who taught school at Delhi Elementary School.  Bobby attended school in Delhi, graduating in 1935. He and his two siblings, Allie Marie, and his brother Woodrow, attended college at what is now ULM, for two years, then La. Tech. Bobby, as he was known to friends and family played baseball on La. Tech’s team, and was a pitcher for them. He graduated in 1939 in Business Administration.

 

One day when he was a junior at Delhi High School, he and his Dad were visiting a well- known attorney, Mr. Warren Hunt, in Rayville. A Navy pilot visiting there drove up in a La Salle convertible, dressed in his Navy uniform.  Bobby liked his looks, and especially his La Salle. He asked the pilot many questions about the Navy and the aviation program. He so impressed Bobby that he decided he wanted to be a Navy pilot too. After graduating high school and La. Tech, he applied for the aviation cadet program in the Navy. He was accepted as a candidate for the training school, but a mishap nearly derailed his ambitions. While playing baseball for his Dad’s Sacksonia community team, a line drive hit him in the eye, causing it to swell so badly that he couldn’t see out of it. The physical for pilot training had to be postponed a few days until the swelling went down and he could see. He finally was able to see, passed the physical, and was accepted.

 

He was sent down to Florida to various Navy air bases, including Pensacola and Opa-locka, where he went through training. During this training, another mishap occurred that nearly ended his career again. He was in a trainer out of Opa-locka, and got lost. He found a canal and followed it until he came to a small airstrip. He landed his airplane, and there was a deputy sheriff there to meet him. The deputy told him which direction his base was, and he took off for it. When he landed, the commander was there to meet him and was ready to “wash” him out for getting lost. But Bobby explained that there was no compass in the plane and he didn’t know which direction the base was located. The plane was checked and verified that there was no compass, so he was allowed to remain in the program. After completing his training he was then transferred to Corpus Christi, Texas, as an advanced training instructor. By then, the war had begun, and he was training pilots to fly off carriers.  As all the training pilots felt, he wanted to be sent out to the fleet to fight for his country. He had seen many of his trainees that had been sent out there, and had rotated back to the US.  Growing up on a farm, he was proficient with guns, and this helped as a fighter pilot.  By the time he did get out to the fleet, he was far ahead of many pilots that were already there.

 

He was finally sent to the Pacific in 1943, and was assigned to the Essex class carrier, Bunker Hill.  His first mission was to assist in a raid on Rabaul, which was a Japanese held island, used as an enemy headquarters and stronghold. Bobby was one of the last pilots to take off that day, and as he was getting airborne, they were attacked by the Japanese.  Bobby quickly shot down two enemy planes, and then another, and then another one. His first mission out, he had four kills. But the Navy, being the Navy, took two of the kills away from him, giving one to his wingman, and another to a Marine pilot who was also shooting at the airplane. Bobby said, “ I had them burning and in the water”. Not to worry, he would get many more before he was done. While aboard the Bunker Hill, he flew missions over Tarawa, and later remembered the young dead marines floating in the water during the invasion. His F6F Hellcat fighter delivered rockets, and his six 50 caliber machine guns caused much destruction to the enemy.

 

The pilots in those days served six months on duty, then six months back at the base. During those times, he went to different Navy schools and perfected his skills as a Navy pilot. He also married a pretty young lady he had met in Corpus Christi, Wilhemina Kowalski, of Marlin, Texas. They were married until her death in the late 90’s. They had one son, Bob, a West Point graduate, who lives in Seattle, Washington.

 

When he was sent back to the Pacific, he was posted to the Hornet, another Essex class carrier. This class was larger and much faster than the early carriers the US had.  Bobby was flight leader off that ship. The Hornet participated in the famous battle known as “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”, when the Japanese lost over 300 airplanes and several ships. On that day, Bobby was off on another mission, and didn’t participate in that famous battle.

 

By this time, he had added another kill to his score, but again the Navy only credited him with one fourth of a kill, because there were other planes there protecting him. He flew air cover over the battles of Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. During the Okinawa battle, he was flight leader, and had already made his bombing run on the enemy, but one of his other planes still had not dropped its bomb. Bobby was leading the other plane in to the target when an antiaircraft shell hit his engine, causing it to quit running. He was only at about 700 feet, and not room to bail out, so he made a “water landing”. The impact knocked him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he said he was probably 60 feet under water, but he pulled his Mae West cord and popped to the top. He had lost his dinghy during the crash, but his wing man circling above, dropped him his raft. The Japanese on the island made attempts to come out to capture or kill him, but the above pilot would strafe them and chase them back. Finally after a few hours, a small float plane came to pick him up, and take him back to the carrier. 

In March of 1945, his squadron was alerted to take off and raid Kyushu, one of the Japanese home islands. They had several alerts and stand downs, but finally a few of them were able to get airborne. Almost immediately, they were called back, but they did not “understand” the message, so they made for Kyushu. They met several groups of enemy planes, knocking down all of them. Bobby was flight leader, and had four kills, when they decided they should get back to the ship, since fuel was running low. They spotted three planes going in a circle not far from them, and went to investigate. There were two Japanese zeros chasing a Corsair, and they had already damaged it. Bobby took the first zero, and splashed it, while his wingman splashed the other one. The Corsair joined with them, followed them back to their ship. Bobby’s score that day was five, which put him over the five required to be an Ace. For the action on that day, he received the Navy Cross, which is the highest medal the Navy awards. Only the Medal of Honor is higher. He also received the Distinguished Flying Cross, and many other medals before the war ended.

 

Later, he knocked down several more, getting a total of 12 when the war ended. He had planned to get out of the Navy and to work for a company out of Houston, but he was asked by Admiral Jocko Clark to stay in the Navy.  After thinking it over, he decided to remain in the Navy.  He was posted a couple of times at the Pentagon, and Patuxent River Naval base working in research and development, all the while flying every chance he had. He was at the Pentagon during the Cuban Missile crisis. During that time he was in Texas on leave when the blockade was begun. The Navy sent a fighter to Texas to bring him back to Washington. His work was secret, but vital to the Navy.  Another posting was in Pensacola, where the last time, he was second in command of that base. He was not a Blue Angel, but was their boss, as they were based there then, and still are. Another posting was in Trinidad, where he was commander of that base for three years. During this time, he hosted the Queen of England at a ball held in her honor. 

 

He retired in 1973 with the rank of Captain, and remained in Jacksonville, Florida, with his wife Billye.  When she passed away, he began coming back to Delhi, visiting his cousin, Kathleen Coats Parker and his sister Allie Marie in West Monroe. He also was friends with Mrs. Earlene Martin. He knew her in high school and enjoyed spending time with her and her family at the Martin home place until her death in 2006.

 

In 2009, Bobby passed away at the age of 93. He was living near Seattle, Washington at the time, because his son lives there. He made it known that he wanted to be buried in Delhi, near his Dad and Mrs. Betty. A full military funeral was held with a Navy jet fly over during the ceremony.

 

To those that knew him, he was a kind and gentle man, who was “an officer and a gentleman”. 

Bobby was one of two Navy aces from this area, Murrell Jones of Epps being the other one.

Both have been inducted in the Louisiana Hall of Honor in Baton Rouge, near the USS Kidd. Both have a display at the Chennault Air Museum in Monroe.

 

Both are from the “Greatest Generation”.

 

Written by Charles Parker

Article Submitted: March 12, 2015