(231) BOB SCHOPIS (1921-2019): One of the Last of the Great Generation That Won World War II

AMDG

Bob Schopis and Ellen faithfully at his side for 70 years.  We study American History.  They lived it.  This photo was taken in about 2011 for the 2012 St. Louis Church Directory.

       Bob and Ellen Schopis are members of the “Great Generation” that got us through the Depression and won World War II.  On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the United States faced a crisis greater than 9/11.  The United States was losing the war at first because the country was woefully unprepared for it.

 

The United States had to mobilize 16 million soldiers from its population of 140 million to fight while retooling its industrial might (mining, oil, steel, vehicles, machinery, etc.) to produce armaments, ammunition, equipment, vehicles, ships, air planes, food to feed the troops and fight a war on two fronts……Europe and the Pacific.  The entire economy was directed toward winning that war.  

     Pro sports were disrupted as such legendary players as Bob Feller, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio gave up three years of their careers in their prime to join the armed forces.  Thus a one armed pitcher was able to make the big leagues during the war.  In pro football, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles had to temporarily merge into the Steagles.

  

Even Superman and Batman joined the fight in the comic books with the “Japs” and “Krauts” pictured in very uncomplimentary ways.  As little kids, we would play war with toy guns, fighter planes, bombers, and tanks.  I even had a toy air craft carrier.  Oh how we looked up to soldiers like Bob Schopis, especially marines, who would come home on furlough for R & R, a break for rest and recuperation!

 

       As a six year old my mother would send me to the store down the street with money and ration stamps.  There was a limit to how much each family could buy to make sure there was enough for the troops.  When I was in 1^st Grade, we had to collect used tin cans to recycle steel for the war effort and sang patriotic songs at school.  The local steel mills were going full blast.  The teachers cajoled us into saving our pennies to buy war bonds.

 

Because Pittsburgh was a prime target, we had air raid drills although neither Germany nor Japan was capable of sending bombers such a distance.  Instead of cars, Chrysler and GM produced tanks and trucks. Boeing and McConnell Douglas produced fighter planes and bombers.

 

I remember seeing one railroad car after another hauling tanks to port.  Bob was risking life and limb on the war front and Ellen was on the home front.  People were huddled at their radios for the latest news about the war after reading about the details in their daily newspapers.  Nobody thought of demonstrating against that war.  The Country was never so united except for our shameful culture of segregation and racial injustice with even a segregated military as well as ethnic Japanese Americans being unjustly forced into internment camps…….paranoia at its worst.

        

At the age of 20 in 1942 Bob Schopis answered the call while young women like Ellen did their part on the home front in the factories and other support jobs.  Bob joined the United States Marines and was deeply involved in the South Pacific Theater, including the August 7, 1942 amphibious landing in the Battle of Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands.  It was the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific Theater of operations.  The Japanese finally abandoned the island the following February.  Bob came back; some 416,800 never did, witness the thousands of American graves at Normandy, France.

Robert Schopis, U.S. Marine Corps, about 1942.

       
     The motto of the United States Marines is “Semper Fidelis” (Always Faithful).  Bob lived that motto for the rest of his life.  He was always faithful to his country, his community as a scoutmaster, and later his job in quality control at Stauffer Chemical on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River after utilizing the GI Bill to obtain a degree in Chemistry from the Catholic Seton Hall University in Newark, NJ.  More important, he was faithful to his wife and family of six children, even taking care of Ellen for several months during her illness four or five years ago.

       At lunch after the funeral for Bob Schopis, I asked Ellen, his widowed wife:  “You were married for 70 years, what’s your secret?”  “There is no secret”, she replied in her characteristic New Jersey accent.  “We made a vow, ‘Until death do us part’.  We worked things out.  Marriage is like a roller coaster.  There’s ups and downs, twists and turns.”  In other words, be faithful and adapt.

   

The most important of all, Bob was faithful to God and His Church from Catholic grade and high school to his death.  He was brought up in a Catholic culture that we must restore in our families.  For 70 years this beautiful couple aged together and were fixtures at the 8 o’clock Mass………no flimsy excuses; they were there EVERY SUNDAY because it is a SERIOUS OBLIGATION to God.  Thank you, Bob for serving our country and being a model for us of quiet faithfulness.

 

    Bob was a railroad enthusiast whether model miniatures or the real thing.  In lieu of flowers, he directed contributions to the restoration of the old Gallipolis railroad station complete with a steam engine, passenger car, and a caboose.  Fr. Thomas Hamm, our pastor, beautifully utilized his hobby in the homily.  “Bob stayed on track”.  May we also stay on track on our journey to eternity.

       His son Paul gave a beautiful eulogy at the burial of his father at St. Louis Church Cemetery that gives further insights into this member of the Great Generation.

       The motto of the United States Marines is “Semper Fidelis” (Always Faithful).  Bob lived that motto for the rest of his life.  He was always faithful to his country, his community as a scoutmaster, and later his job in quality control at Stauffer Chemical on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River after utilizing the GI Bill to obtain a degree in Chemistry from the Catholic Seton Hall University in Newark, NJ.  More important, he was faithful to his wife and family of six children, even taking care of Ellen for several months during her illness four or five years ago.

       At lunch after the funeral for Bob Schopis, I asked Ellen, his widowed wife:  “You were married for 70 years, what’s your secret?”  “There is no secret”, she replied in her characteristic New Jersey accent.  “We made a vow, ‘Until death do us part’.  We worked things out.  Marriage is like a roller coaster.  There’s ups and downs, twists and turns.”  In other words, be faithful and adapt.

   

The most important of all, Bob was faithful to God and His Church from Catholic grade and high school to his death.  He was brought up in a Catholic culture that we must restore in our families.  For 70 years this beautiful couple aged together and were fixtures at the 8 o’clock Mass………no flimsy excuses; they were there EVERY SUNDAY because it is a SERIOUS OBLIGATION to God.  Thank you, Bob for serving our country and being a model for us of quiet faithfulness.

 

       Bob was a railroad enthusiast whether model miniatures or the real thing.  In lieu of flowers, he directed contributions to the restauration of the old Gallipolis railroad station complete with a steam engine, passenger car, and a caboose.  Fr. Thomas Hamm, our pastor, beautifully utilized his hobby in the homily.  “Bob stayed on track”.  May we also stay on track on our journey to eternity.

       His son Paul gave a beautiful eulogy at the burial of his father at St. Louis Church Cemetery that gives further insights into this member of the Great Generation.

Eulogy to Bob Schopis By His Son, Paul

“Good morning and welcome, on behalf of my family and myself.  I want to thank all of you for coming here today to help celebrate the life of my father, Robert Schopis and to pay our last respects to him. As his son, I've spent some time reflecting on how to sum up in just a few moments 97 years of living, and at nearly a century’s duration, what a life it was.  

He was born in 1921, to a working class family. He was only 8 years old when the Great Depression started. I remember him telling me that during those years receiving the luxury of an orange and peanuts for Christmas gifts was considered fortunate, as many people were going hungry.  His family put forth their best effort for his education and he was able to attend St. Benedict’s prep school. 

When World War II broke out, and he was called up for military service, he joined the Marines, trained at Paris Island and was deployed to Guadalcanal.  Like many men of his generation, he didn’t talk much about the war itself, rather he talked about getting there and back, his time at Santa Barbara and maybe a few observational anecdotes such as watching aerial combat above the islands, but he almost never talked about his involvement in the fighting, except to say it was an ugly business and he didn’t like to think about it.

He came home, met my mother, and they married.  They produced 6 offspring, his work brought him here to Southeast Ohio, far from the urban environment he was accustomed to.

Like most people, he was a complex and complicated person.  He had a great regard for learning and was truly curious and inquiring about the world around him and how things worked.  He loved reading about history and enjoyed classical music.  On the other hand, much to the chagrin of my mother, he thoroughly enjoyed Benny Hill, sophomoric as it was. He had a generally serious demeanor, but thoroughly enjoyed “playing” with his model trains.  And boy did he love trains.  It would be difficult to remember a family vacation that somehow didn’t involve railroad rides, visits to railroad museums, visits to hobby shops that specialized in model railroading or a combination of all of the above.

He didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, and was uncomfortable with public displays of affection or emotion.  I remember when my older brother Bob graduated from law school.  We were standing in Mershon Auditorium’s lobby and my brother was moved to hug dad.  I thought he would have the big one right there and then.  On the other hand, when my oldest son Seth was born, mom and he came to visit and he patted me on the shoulder, and gave me “that” look.  He didn’t have to say what he meant; I knew it.  “You’re one of us now; you’re in the club; better buckle up; it’s going to be a wild ride”.

But if there is one thing I want to remember about dad, it is his integrity.  He was one of the most honest people I know.  He was honest in all of his financial dealings; he was considerate of others; and he was intellectually honest.  And if one has a legacy, he can claim that as his.  On the last point, I can cite a few examples.

First, his family, like many of the day, held racially biased attitudes.  Despite the fact that he grew up in a household where that was the prevailing attitude, he came to the conclusion that bigotry was wrong.  As  children, we were prohibited from ever using a racial slur in our house.  If we did, it was a good way to get our mouth washed out with soap.  Parents still did that back then.  My point is: that through his own efforts and listening to individuals such as Dr. Martin Luther King, he realized how wrong racial bigotry was.

He maintained that intellectual honesty well into his advanced years.  In our turbulent and ever evolving times, he continued to read and reevaluate his views and thinking.

Lastly, when it came to his family, he brought his A game; he gave it his best.  He did what he thought was right and as we, his children, approached the age of reason, he let us become ourselves, and for that, Pop I thank you.”