Guy H. Bodor, Pearl Harbor Survivor And IBM Official, 82

[DGH]

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Mr. Bodor, of Aurora, Illinois, a decorated World War II veteran and
retired customer service engineer with IBM, died of natural causes
Monday, December 20, 2004, at Provena McAuley Manor in Aurora, at the
age of 82.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Guy H. Bodor had just finished
night-shift duty in the Navy aboard the USS San Francisco. Family
members said the ship was docked for repairs and unarmed.

"He had just sat down to breakfast, when all of a sudden he heard boom,
boom, boom," said his daughter Jeanne Larson. "After that he didn't
really tell us anything more about what happened that day, because I
think he wanted to protect us. He'd always say, `There's really no
reason to talk about it.'"

Mr. Bodor was born in Los Angeles, California. His father, Louis, was
an aviation expert who taught people how to fly planes during the late
1910s and early 1920s. The early part of Mr. Bodor's childhood was
spent in Davenport, Iowa, before his family moved to Chicago's
[Illinois] North Side. He attended Senn High School.

Mr. Bodor enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and completed boot camp at Great
Lakes Naval Training Station. He then attended Aviation Radio School in
San Diego, California. Family members said he spent 56 months as a
radioman in the Pacific theater, participating in the Wake Island
relief expedition, the attack on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, air
action off Bougainville, the Salamaua-Lae Raid, the Battle of Cape
Esperance and the Battle of Guadalcanal.

In 1943 Mr. Bodor was assigned to bombing squadron VB-140, based in the
Russell Islands for the New Georgia-Bougainville-New Ireland campaigns.
Family members said he later was reassigned to patrol bombing squadron
VPB-123 and participated in the Okinawa invasion.

Mr. Bodor was decorated many times, including receiving a Purple Heart
for injuries suffered in the Battle of Guadalcanal, for which his unit
received the first Presidential Unit Citation, family members said. He
also was awarded the Naval Air Medal, Navy Good Conduct Medal, World
War II Victory Medal, American Defense Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Medal, American Campaign-Pacific Operations Medal and the Naval Reserve
Medal for faithful service.

"He was so humble about all his medals from the war," his daughter
said. "He'd always say, `I'm no hero, I just did the right thing at the
time.'"

Mr. Bodor continued his service after the war in the Naval Reserve and
was called to active duty in 1961. While in the Reserve, he attained
the rank of chief warrant officer 4, serving until his retirement in
1982.

In 1946 Mr. Bodor joined IBM, working in its main office in Chicago and
later in its Aurora office. He retired as a senior customer service
engineer.

Mr. Bodor was active in the community at SciTech Hands-On Museum,
Golden Kiwanis and New England Congregational Church. He also was a
member of the Naval Order of the United States and served as president
of the Aurora Navy League.

Chicago Tribune