Approaching century mark, Islander looks back: Robert Strugats on embracing life’s challenges

As he rounded the 99-year mark a couple of weeks ago, Robert Strugats could reflect on weathering some of the major storms of the last century. A child of the Depression, he grew up poor in Brooklyn’s Gravesend section, recalling in a recent conversation with the Reporter how his grandmother had to provide food for the family to survive.

He did well in school, skipping grades and graduating early from high school. He played trumpet in small, pickup bands. He took some courses at Brooklyn College.

But World War II was raging in Europe and the Pacific, and young American men were being drafted. Mr. Strugats and his friends realized they “didn’t want to be killed” and decided to enlist in a branch with better survival prospects. Although underage, he joined the Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the U.S. Air Force, in 1942.

Around the time of the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing that brought that war to a close, Mr. Strugats recalled his experiences in a visit to the Reporter’s newsroom. He was remembering the summer he was 20 and a bombardier, alone in the nose of a B-29, located below and ahead of the pilot’s cockpit — “the best seat in the house,” he said with a touch of gallows humor — on bombing runs over Japan.

The B-29 was built as a long-range bomber that could fly at altitudes of over 31,000 feet, but on Mr. Strugats’ missions, the bomber went over Japan at about 7,000 feet.

Fifteen times that July and August, Mr. Strugats flew missions from an American base in Guam. Some of the runs took 16 hours round-trip, where he’d be alone in the Plexiglas bubble of the bombardier’s station, looking through a Norden bombsight for targets. The Norden was also a navigational tool, he said, “But if I had a dollar for every time it didn’t work, I’d be rich.”

Mr. Strugats described the night flights, with searchlights illuminating the sky, anti-aircraft fire coming up and Japanese fighters scrambling to attack, as a live-or-die exercise, night after night.

“We’d see the searchlights ahead coming up from the ground,” he recalled. “We’d fly right into them.” That didn’t mean it became routine. “We were hit at times, but we made it back.”

“Back” was the airfield at Guam, where the first thing each crewman received on disembarking in the hangar was a shot of whiskey. Good whiskey? he was asked.

“No. Four Roses or some cheap [expletive],” he smiled, but it did the trick, he added.

He spoke somberly about the war and his role in the fighting, recalling how his comrades helped him get through the dangerous missions. “We felt safe,” Mr. Strugats said. “We were all friends. We were all working together.”

Mr. Strugats and his wife Mollie helped to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II by donating several items to the Air Power Museum, which showcases aircraft and artifacts from the war.

There was a flight jacket, and articles to be used if an airman had to ditch into the ocean, including a mirror to attract rescue aircraft, a small fishing kit, and rations for a day or two. Also included was a large, evil-looking pocketknife. He was asked what the knife was for.

“To fight off sharks?” Mr. Strugats asked with a smile.

His service didn’t end with that war. He served four years and was discharged in 1946, but was recalled to active duty in 1950 at the beginning of the Korean War. Between 1946 and 1950 he returned to school, passed the New York State Bar exam and became an associate with a New York City law firm, specializing in trial practice.

He retired to Shelter Island in 1995 when throat cancer robbed him of his voice. Although he was able to speak again after two years, he and Mollie continued their life on the Island.

After surviving war and other major challenges through their lifetimes, Robert and Mollie had to make major shifts in their lifestyles when the COVID pandemic suddenly cut off much of the daily pleasures and habits of the life they had made on the Island.

Like other seniors, they enjoyed activities at the Senior Center and kept up strength and agility by making use of the FIT Center. Being cooped up those months was “frustrating. We want to go places, do things,” Mollie Strugats said.

But the robust volunteer program set up by the Senior Center helped keep food and important necessities accessible, and the advent of vaccines eventually enabled seniors and other Islanders to venture forth again.

In the meantime, a sense of humor kept them going. “I’m the chief cook and bottlewasher,” Ms. Strugats said, when asked how they were coping with the shutdown. “Literally, I’m cooking and cleaning and doing laundry and yelling at Robert because sometimes he’s not so tidy,” she said with a laugh. “I feel I’ve paid my dues for a day when I’m finished.”

Recently, their activity was focused on an important day: Saturday, Feb. 18, when Robert turned 99.

At a recent doctor’s visit, Mr. Strugats was asked how he accounted for living into his 90s. “I told him it was easy,” the World War II combat veteran said. “Keep breathing.”

We wish him a very happy, healthy birthday.