EAST LANSING — Many of the stories Richard Masters told his children about serving during World War II are lost to him now, but the Navy veteran can clearly recall sleeping in a cot that rocked back and forth with the waves.
Masters, 97, admits there's a great deal he no longer remembers about his time in the U.S. Navy. He enlisted in April 1945, a week before he turned 18, after watching his East Lansing High School classmates go straight to the U.S. Army when their names were called in the draft.
Many left during the school year: in class one day and off to fight in the war the next.
Masters shipped out in May 1945 — the month Germany surrendered — and he served aboard naval ships until returning home a little over a year later.
Masters is part of an increasingly rare group of military veterans. It's estimated that 16 million Americans served during World War II, but as of 2023, fewer than 120,000 were still alive. About 131 are dying each day, according to statistics from the National WWII Museum.
On a Tuesday late in April, just a few days after Masters' birthday, he stood in Hannah Community Center's entrance hall, previously East Lansing High School, and gazed at several display cases filled with aging photographs of students who served in World War II.
"He was a good buddy of mine," Masters said, pointing to one photo of a friend who passed away a few years ago. So many of the faces belong to people he knew; many of them have died.
And while many details about WWII have left him, others, like sleeping on a cot that swayed with the waves aboard a massive ship, have stayed with him, Masters said.
"That was my home," he said. "I lived on it."
'Everybody was on the same team'
Masters enlisted in the Navy because he wanted to serve on a ship.
Everyone he knew who was poised to turn 18 expected they would fight in the war and many who didn't enlist were drafted.
"Everybody was on the same team, you know," Masters said. "We needed to go over there and take care of this problem. Everybody my age, that was it. You didn't have a choice."
Hearing about a classmate who'd been killed during the war was "a common occurrence," he said.
Greg Masters believes a six-week stint in radar school after he enlisted spared his father from being part of some of the war's bloodiest battles. While Germany was on the verge of surrender by May 1945, U.S. forces hadn't yet overcome Japanese resistance. The Army, Navy and Marines had been fighting the Japanese on the island of Okinawa since April, and would continue to battle into June.
"There was some heavy fighting going on, but while he was in Hawaii he qualified for radar school and basically that kept him out of combat," Greg Masters said. "Otherwise, at the end of May, he'd have gone to Hawaii, then he'd have been on the ship, and he'd have been headed for Okinawa and Iwo Jima, or wherever the next battle was."
Richard Masters was on a ship, headed to the Philippines when Japan surrendered in mid-August 1945. He continued to serve until his discharge on June 24, 1946.
Greg Masters said his father has had "a love affair with boats ever since."
Living a full life after the war
Like many World War II veterans, his family said Richard Masters came home and lived a full and vibrant life after the conflict.
He wed his high school sweetheart, Mary, about a year after he returned. He and Mary, who has since passed, were married for 50 years and raised five children.
Masters attended Michigan State University and spent three decades working as an industrial ventilation salesman for Aerovent.
He also coached the East Lansing High School ski team from 1968 to 1999 and became an accomplished skier, winning awards in the sport at age 87. Masters coached his alma mater to regional wins for 13 straight years and a state championship in 1981. His own skiing accomplishments are noted in the Greater Lansing Hall of Fame .
Greg Masters, whose wife also is named Mary, said his dad, who lives in East Lansing with the younger couple, is a local in the truest sense, and a die-hard Spartan fan.
Richard Masters' service during WWII certainly impacted his life, said his son, but he also prospered in the following years. His longevity at a time when fellow WWII veterans are dwindling is a point of pride for his family.
"It's amazing," Greg Masters said.
It wasn't hard to get the family together to celebrate his latest birthday on April 28.
"They all are anxious to celebrate another birthday," he said.
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Contact Reporter Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on X @GrecoatLSJ .
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan WWII vet Richard Masters makes nostalgic visit to his high school on 97th birthday
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