U.S. NAVY Robert Graves Robert Graves of Northeast Harbor was all of 17 in 1942 when he hitched a ride up to Bangor to enlist in the Navy. “At that time,” he said, “you could sign up for two, four or six years. I signed up for two years and when that was up I had to sign up for the Navy Reserves.” Actually, it wasn’t quite that simple. “The only problem I had was that my father had to sign the papers for me,” Graves said. “He, at that time, was working at the shipyard in Portland. I had planned to hitchhike down the following weekend but he came home for the weekend and very reluctantly signed the papers for me.” Graves was sent to Newport, R.I., for boot camp, then to Richmond, Va., for diesel school. After completing that schooling, he was transferred to the USS Wyoming, a training battleship out of Norfolk, Va. “My duty on her was to patrol around the ship to prevent anyone from boarding. And in case anyone fell over the side, we could help them. I always believed if they used the same system the USS Cole would not have been hit,” he observed. Graves was later transferred to the USS SC 991, a submarine chaser, 110 feet long with an 18-foot beam and a crew of 26 men. The ship was “compact but fast,” he recalled. “We had 18 depth chargers, two ‘Y guns’ and 140 millimeter and 220 millimeter guns.” A “Y gun” was, basically, a huge slingshot for hurling depth charges out and away from the sub chaser. Some other sub chasers simply rolled the depth charges over the side. “This was a real good duty and I stayed on for 26 months,” Graves said. “We gave protection in the Caribbean and escorted convoys from Cuba — Balboa through the Panama Canal. “Patrolling was always routine and not much to do except your watch. We had three occasions to drop depth charges due to the sound gear search. After dropping them we took off and let the big ships take over. The biggest fear was a submarine surfacing under us — we were too small for that. “The ship was decommissioned and I was sent to the Fargo Building [in Boston] to wait out my two points to get out in 1946. I was assigned as a group leader to take the ones ready to discharge to various meetings, etc.” While staying at the Fargo Building, a friend told Graves about a classmate who was a hostess at the USO Buddies Club. “It turned out to be Sheila Norwood from Seal Harbor,” Graves said. “She was working in Boston at the Army Engineers and helping at the USO. We went out a couple of times before I was discharged and left for Northeast Harbor. A short time later she returned to Seal Harbor. We were married in October 1947, the year of the big fire. We had four children, John, Steve, Ann and Alan.” When the children were little, Robert and Sheila took the family on road trips. On one, they saw all the sights in Washington, D.C. There were many good times. But few families are spared great heartache. “John died at the age of 8 with a heart problem he was born with,” Graves said. “My son Steve died in 2001 from cancer.” After he had returned home to Northeast Harbor, Graves worked for C.E. Wallace Plumbing & Heating for 25 years. Then he started his own business, Robert M. Graves Plumbing & Heating, which he ran for 25 years. “After retiring, my sons, Steve and Alan, took over the business and did a remarkable job at building up the business,” Graves said. “For that I am very proud. After Steve died, his son, Brian, my grandson, became partners with Alan and they have three full-time workers and one part-time worker.” Retired now, Graves enjoys woodworking and bird carving. (“I took a course at the Wendell Gilley Museum.”) The America that he went to war to serve is a source of concern to Graves these days. “We’re losing this country, we really are,” he said. “We can’t buy anything today that isn’t made in China. It boils down to the dollar, doesn’t it?” — Stephen Fay