Bauman, Frank A. (Frank Anthony), 1921-

Frank A. Bauman, Jr. was born in Portland, Oregon, on June 10, 1921 and received a bachelor's degree from Stanford Univerity in 1930. He attended the US Navy Japanese Language School, at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 1943 to 1944. LT Bauman, USNR, served in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Peleliu, Guam, Okinawa and Japan as a Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Area (JICPOA) officer from 1944 and 1945. He also served under The United States Bombing Survey (USSBS) from 1945 and 1946.

From the description of Frank A. Bauman papers, 1944-2001 (bulk) 1944-1946. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 232331962

Frank Anthony Bauman, Jr. was born June 10, 1921 in Portland Oregon. He attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, where he attained a bachelor's degree. While at Stanford, he was accepted into the US Navy Japanese Language School at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, which he attended from January 1943 to March 1944. After completing JLS, Bauman was sent to a Naval Intelligence School in New York City.

In May 1944, Bauman boarded a destroyer escort headed for Pearl Harbor. At his arrival, he was immediately assigned to the Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Area (JICPOA) where he translated Japanese military documents into English, including orders of battle. In September 1944, he received orders from the Commandant of the Fourteenth Naval District to proceed immediately from Honolulu and Pearl Harbor to the West Carolinas. Bauman and a small team traveled 4,000 miles west to Peleliu. There he reported for temporary duty to the commanding general of the First Marine Division on October 8, 1944. His duties centered on interrogating captured Japanese and Korean prisoners. On October 19, 1944, he finished his temporary duty with the Marines and reported to the commander of the Western Carolinas for continued duty on Peleliu.

On November 14, 1944 he received orders to take charge of certain Japanese-Korean prisoners of war and report via surface transportation to Pearl Harbor. He then boarded the USS Alioth (AK-109), where he was stationed from November 14th until December 11th, 1944, carrying 253 Japanese and Korean prisoners of war from Peleliu to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The ship was attacked near Truk by two Zekes (Zero planes with floats attached). When the Alioth arrived at Pearl Harbor, Bauman transferred the prisoners of war to officers of the main prisoner of war stockade in the Pacific, near Pearl. He returned to his duties at JICPOA, again examining and translating Japanese military records and documents.

In July 1945 Bauman was alerted to join a Marine Divisions of the JICPOA for the invasion of Kagoshima on Kyushu Island, Japan, which was scheduled to take place on November 1, 1945. The invasion was averted after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th, 1945, with the War ending on August 14th. After the bombs were dropped, Bauman was directed to Guam. During the flight they received a message that the war was over. Once in Guam, he reported to the Commander of Submarines Pacific, Rear Admiral Charles Lockwood, who asked Bauman to decommission the Japanese submarines that had been directed to surrender at three Pacific ports, namely, Guam, Subic Bay in the Philippines and Sesebo, Japan. In Guam Bauman remained on the submarine mother ship, the USS Fulton (AS11), from the 17th of August to the 24th of August, 1945.

Following his assignment with Submarines Pacific, Bauman was ordered to board the USS Antietam (CV36) and report to the Commander of Carrier Division Five, Rear Admiral Arthur C. Davis. On August 26, 1945 the Antietam left Guam and sailed to Okinawa. After two voyages north along the China Coast as far as Peking (no Beijing) and upon return to Okinawa, the Antietam and other ships faced with Typhoon Louise, denominated the worst typhoon in the history of the United States Navy. The Antietam survived and Bauman left the ship on the 7th of October, 1945 and boarded the USS Intrepid (CV11), which sailed for Saipan, arriving on the 14th of October. On the 15th Bauman flew to Guam by government air. He was then detached from the Nav Tech Japan and ordered to Tokyo to report for duty with the US Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS). Bauman arrived in Tokyo on the 17th of October, 1945 and on the 23rd he received instructions to become a member of the Hiroshima Team No. 4 of the U.S Strategic Bombing Survey. Bauman’s team, headed by Captain Ward Merner, was to obtain operative facts about the economic effect of the explosion of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, especially its effect upon the labor supply.

After briefings in Tokyo around November 7th, the team flew from Yokosuka to an airfield near Hiroshima and then boarded the USS Sims (DD409), where they remained until November 24th . From November 24th to November 30th they were shore-based at a Japanese military facility in the Kure area. Once there, the regime interviewed the directors and staff of various industrial corporations in the Hiroshima area, in order to learn as much as they could about how their employees responded to the dropping of the atomic bomb. After some preliminary findings the study team took a train to Tokyo arriving on December 1st. In Tokyo, Bauman and the team examined and analyzed their findings and determined that the facts they had accumulated from the Hiroshima Prefectural Government differed from the information that they had received from the Hiroshima City government. Captain Merner sent Bauman back to Hiroshima on the 16th of December, 1945 to reconcile the differences. On the 19th of December Bauman returned to Tokyo to review with Captain Mercer and the other two members and to reconcile the new and old findings.

On December 20th, Bauman received word that he had finished his duty with the Strategic Bombing Survey and was to proceed to a port in the United States and then travel to Washington, DC. Once in Washington, he was to report to the US Strategic Bombing Survey for continued temporary duty. (Bauman was able to take a short period of leave before traveling to Washington, DC, which included a long awaited reunion with his mother and father in Portland.) He arrived in Washington, DC on January 13th and reported to the Senior Navy officer of the U.S. Strategic Survey. While there Bauman roomed with LT Laurence Grannis and LT Harry Miles Muheim, old friends from Stanford and Boulder. In Washington the team worked on putting its report in final form. In May of 1946 the final report on the effect of the atomic bomb on the Hiroshima labor supply was submitted to Ambassador Jack Lydman and the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (Ambassador Lydman at the time was a civilian and a member of the Foreign Service of the US). The complete report was given to President Harry S. Truman and was classified “secret” for many years. With the completion of the report Bauman was released from his duties with the United States Strategic Bombing Survey and on July 24, 1946 was honorably separated from active duty in the US Navy. For a number of years thereafter he remained an officer in the US Naval Reserve.

After finishing his service Bauman was admitted to and attended Yale Law School. After completing his LLB degree at Yale and after a brief period of private practice, Bauman (with the encouragement of his wife Mildred) applied to Cambridge University in England and to the University of London (Institute of Advanced Legal Studies) to study public international law. He was admitted to both and decided to attend the University of London and its institute, where he studied under Dr. George Schwartzenberger - one of Britain’s foremost international law teachers. Bauman was involved in Schwartzenberger’s program for one year, and was able to obtain a fundamental knowledge of public international law. During the years that followed Bauman continued his interest in international law. In the 1970’s he became a member of the United Nations Secretariat, serving as a senior officer of the United Nations in Australasia. He represented the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Information Office in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Bauman now lives in Portland Oregon and still maintains an office in its downtown.

From the guide to the Frank A. Bauman Papers, 1944-2001, 1944-1946, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Archives Dept.)