Medal of Honor Monday: Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Bush

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Eugene Bush, a hospital corpsman, was assigned to the 3rd Platoon, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, during the World War II Battle of Okinawa, a conflict in which the bravery he showed led him to receive the Medal of Honor.

Bush was born Oct. 4, 1926, in Tacoma, Washington, to Carl and Estelle Bush. His father worked in a sawmill, and his mother was a nurse. After his parents divorced when he was 4, he was raised by his mother in Raymond, Washington. He worked in a sawmill as a teenager to help support his family and dropped out of high school in 1943 to enlist in the Navy Reserve.

After completing recruit training at Farragut Naval Training Station in Farragut, Idaho, Bush graduated from the Naval Hospital Corps School in Farragut. He was then assigned to the Seattle Naval Hospital before completing advanced training at the Field Medical Service School at Camp Pendleton, California.  

On Feb. 10, 1945, Bush was assigned to the 5th Marine Regiment, which landed on Okinawa April 1, 1945.

A month later, on May 2, he braved artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire from strongly entrenched hostile positions. Disregarding his own safety, Bush moved from one casualty to another without hesitation to treat the wounded.

During a Japanese counterattack, he administered blood plasma to a wounded Marine officer. According to his medal citation, while in an exposed position, Bush held the plasma bottle in one hand and fired his pistol at the enemy with the other.

After using all of his ammunition, he found a nearby discarded magazine and fired at the Japanese forces charging at his position, killing six enemy soldiers. Bush suffered serious injuries during the attack and even lost an eye. He continued to defend the officer until the enemy force finally retreated.

Bush refused medical treatment until his patient was finally evacuated and collapsed on his way to the aid station for treatment. 

For his bravery, President Harry S. Truman presented Bush with the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House, Oct. 5, 1945.

He was honorably discharged July 26, 1945. He then went back and finished high school, before marrying Wanda Spooner of South Bend, Washington, Sept. 30, 1945. The couple had three sons, a daughter and many grandchildren.

After the war, Bush studied business administration at the University of Washington. He then founded the Bayview Lumber Company in South Bend, Washington, in 1951, and Bayview Redi-Mix in Elma, Washington, building both into multimillion-dollar businesses. 

Bush died Oct. 8, 2005, in Olympia, Washington, and is buried at Fern Hill Cemetery in Menlo, Washington. His wife died in 1999 and is buried beside him. 

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw wrote a chapter about Bush in his 1998 book about World War II titled “The Greatest Generation.”

The Robert E. Bush Naval Hospital at Twentynine Palms, California, and the Branch Medical Clinic Bush, at Camp Courtney, Okinawa, Japan, bear his name.

In 1998, a monument depicting his actions on Okinawa was erected in a park named for him in his hometown of South Bend, Washington. A street in that town was also named for him. 

A “Golden Palm Star” on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in Palm Springs, California, was dedicated to Bush on Veterans Day in 1999. 

This article is part of a weekly series called “Medal of Honor Monday,” in which we highlight one of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have received the U.S. military’s highest medal for valor.