97 Years Strong - Ty Robinson spoke to Rotary on July 3 about his experiences with working with the US Navy and especially Admiral Chester Nimitz.    Thanks Ty for your continued service to Rotary and Missoula. 

 Ty Robinson is a 3 time Paul Harris Fellow, Benefactor and an active Rotarian since August 1949.

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If you missed it, here is the story from the Missoulian on Ty:

July 03, 2013 9:15 pm  •  You’re never too old to have a war hero, especially one with whom you’ve played volleyball in Hawaii.

Ensign Ty Robinson and Adm. Chester Nimitz weren’t at Pearl Harbor for the fun and sun of it, of course.

In a pre-Independence Day address on Wednesday, the 97-year-old Robinson related the admiration he gained for the five-star admiral in the waning years and aftermath of World War II at the monthly Missoula Downtown Rotary Club luncheon in the Florence Building.

“We have independence and we are fortunate to have it and we honor it,” said Robinson, who still stands straight and tall like the naval officer he was nearly 70 years ago. “But who were the people who helped get this independence? Who were the people who ensured that once we get it, maybe we can keep it?”

Nimitz certainly was one.

The tall Texan was selected commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet days after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Three months later, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff divided the Pacific theater into three areas. Nimitz was named commander of the Pacific Ocean Areas, with operational control over all Allied air, land and sea units there.

The Navy’s pivotal victory at Midway in June 1942 was called by one military historian “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare.” It and others helped Nimitz and the Navy buy time to resurrect the fleet of battleships decimated by the Pearl Harbor attack.

Robinson built his law and civic career as in-house attorney for the Missoula Mercantile Co. and helped organize the firm of Garlington, Lohn and Robinson in 1954. But during the war years, he served as a supply officer on Nimitz’s 300-man staff at Pearl Harbor from early 1944 until 1946.

He got to know the admiral during 5 p.m. volleyball matches. Robinson said Nimitz loved volleyball and, unlike the aloof Adm. William Halsey, wasn’t above joining his men in the action.

It did, however, change the nature of the game when the boss showed up.

Marines stood guard on either side of the court, each packing an AK-15.

“Word went through the ranks: Let the admiral win,” Robinson told the Rotarians.

“To me he was always a father figure,” added Robinson, who grew up in the Flathead Valley and Highwood and played basketball for the Montana Grizzlies in the 1930s. “Through the volleyball games, he knew where I came from and he was very excited about the fact that two admirals that he knew were from Fort Benton, Montana.”

Nimitz and Gen. Douglas McArthur are credited as the men most directly responsible for the Allied victory in the South Pacific. The contrasts in personalities and styles between the two were tremendous, Robinson said.

MacArthur to him was as arrogant a man who ever led a military force. He was a man who thirsted for fame and the spotlight.

Nimitz was “a very courteous man, and very calm at all times,” Robinson said. He had extreme confidence in his staff and let others sweat the small stuff so he could concentrate on the larger picture.

The Admiral Nimitz Foundation was set up in 1964, two years before Nimitz’s death, in his hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas. Its mission was to create a museum to honor Fredericksburg’s beloved native son. The National Museum of the Pacific War was established in 1969.

“As you celebrate tomorrow,” Robinson urged the Rotarians, “let’s remember some of these people who helped us keep our freedom. And in particular Admiral Nimitz.”