Loy E. Bates, Jr.

Loy Bates was born in Plaquemine, Louisiana in 1925. His grandfather, Ernest Bates, was a steamboat captain who operated a craft on the Mississippi River; Loy’s father and uncle (Loy Sr. and Ernest Bates) both worked as marine engineers in the steamboat trade. Young Loy grew up on the river, spending time both in Shreveport and with extended family in Illinois, before dropping out of school and getting into “juvenile trouble.” A Baton Rouge judge gave “Lucky” the choice of military service or reform school: fifteen-year-old Bates had to have his mother sign the paperwork allowing him to join the Marine Corps.

Even by 1940s standards, Bates was exceptionally young for a Marine. How he managed to talk his way in to the Corps is not known – at 15, he was well below the minimum enlistment age, so he very likely bluffed his way past the recruiters. Once in boot camp, though, Bates showed an extraordinary musical talent and was quickly snapped up by the Field Music School at MCRD San Diego. He was appointed a Field Music – a bugler – on October 1, 1941, and later that month boarded the USS Salt Lake City for transport to his first duty station with the Third Defense Battalion, Territory of Hawaii.

Bates arrived in Pearl Harbor with his uniform pressed, his bugle polished, and his eyes wide open – he was, after all, only sixteen years old. Less than a month later, he was ducking and running for cover as Japanese aircraft rained bombs and bullets down on the naval base that was his home. Bates was stationed with the five-inch artillery group of the 3rd Defense Battalion; the gunners either tried to train their heavy guns on the swooping enemy airplanes, or scanned the seas in vain for an enemy craft to target. Just as Bates’ bugle called them to action, so too did it bid farewell to the unfortunate; when the smoke cleared and the dead were ready for burial, the teenaged Bates was the one to play Taps over their graves. (This bugle is now part of the permanent collection of the National World War II Museum.)

A few months after his Pearl Harbor performance, Bates was promoted to Field Music First Class. His battalion remained at Pearl Harbor until the summer of 1942, when they boarded the USS Zeilin and sailed for the South Pacific. There, Bates got his second taste of combat on the island of Guadalcanal. A newspaper reported a version of “Lucky” Bates’ service history that would turn the most seasoned action hero green with envy:

In reality, Bates’ time on Guadalcanal was much more routine, and one wonders how much of the article above was sourced solely from over-proud relatives. Records up to May 1943 indicate that Bates had indeed been recently promoted to corporal, and had been evacuated from Guadalcanal due to illness (presumably the malaria mentioned above), but there is no indication that he was ever wounded (at Pearl Harbor or otherwise) or that he was anywhere near Private Al Schmid during the battle of the Tenaru. Finally, Bates is recorded in a San Diego hospital in March 1943, not on a war bond tour. “‘Lucky’ does not like to talk about his feats” is more than likely an indication of a teenager’s embarrassment at his mother’s claim that “he is credited officially with knifing 24 Japs,” and though there are many indications that Bates was a good Marine, there are none showing his participation in six battles, or any individual decorations for bravery.

His previous record notwithstanding, there was still a war for Lucky Bates to fight. He spent much of 1943 on garrison duty in San Diego, and was assigned to Headquarters Company, First Battalion, 24th Marines that fall. However, he spent more time in the hospital than out – likely resurgences of malaria – and on February 1, 1944 was transferred out of the battalion. Bates spent the remainder of the war as a field music at Camp Pendleton, California, and at Naval Air Station Kahlui, Hawaii. He was honorably discharged in October, 1945 – having just turned twenty years old.

Unfortunately, little is known of “Lucky” Bates after the war. He eventually settled in Waterloo, New York, where he married and raised a family.

Bates passed away in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1993.