Robert Hammond was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1926. His father was a postal worker and his mother a dressmaker. Hammond's was a unique family of blendeded race, and they lived in a mixed neighborhood. When he was five years old, his father gave him a toolbox and told him to go build something. He made all his own toys, and it was a happy life. There were six children in the family, and during the Great Depression they lived fairly well. A lot was going on in the country then: singing, dancing, peddlers, bread lines; people out of work, others feeding them. Hammond remembers Al Capone coming through town in a limousine, throwing out 50 cent pieces to the children. Hammond caught a coin and bought an ice cream. When his father died, he was sent to live with family in Charleston, South Carolina, where he first encountered segregation, prejudice, bigotry, and racism. He learned a lot about nature before returning to live with his mother in Camden, New Jersey, where she opened a beauty shop. Joe Lewis and Jesse Owens were role models and heroes then, and Hammond remembers the German-built Graf Zeppelin and when the Hindenburg caught on fire. While doing his chores and listening to the radio on a Sunday morning, he heard Walter Winchell announce the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hammond became an Air Warden. He had a helmet and an armband, and was paid to ride his bicycle through the neighborhood and tell people to put their lights out. He didn't know the danger of war then, and when his oldest brother was drafted into the Army and sent to West Point as one of the last Buffalo Soldiers, Hammond thought he cut a fine figure. Influenced by the music and the uniforms, Hammond was 17 when he enlisted in the Navy.

Robert Hammond was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois in the dead of winter for boot camp. He was prepared for the cold, but he was not ready to encounter a segregated military. Although he had traveled by train among his white friends and classmates without incident, when they reported for duty the black recruits were sent to Camp Laurence, while white recruits went to Camp Moffett. He underwent very rigid training in that all-black facility for six weeks, drilling and getting used to taking orders. An officer came upon him singing while he was working and signed him up for the base choir. The assignment allowed Hammond liberty every weekend, and he went into Chicago and had some fun. When the Navy needed medical people, Hammond was one of 11 "colored" sent to the Great Lakes Course School for Corpsmen. He was the youngest of the group, and Hammond believes he is the only one still living. Next he was moved to the Brooklyn Naval Hospital for surgical training. There, a petty officer with a heavy southern accent assigned the corpsmen to kitchen duties because he didn't think they should interact with the white nurses on the wards. An officer discovered the blunder, and insisted they be moved to ward duty immediately. The discrimination continued in the wards, according to Hammond, because there the black corpsmen were relegated to making beds, emptying bedpans, and giving back rubs. The need arose for help with sick and injured Marines at Montford Point, and Hammond was one of seven sent to work in the dispensary there. [Annotator's Note: In 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps began to recruit qualified African-American men whose training was conducted at Montford Point, Camp Lejeune, near Jacksonville, North Carolina.] Many had illnesses Hammond had never before encountered, including worms and venereal diseases. Hammond's group of corpsmen wrote medical histories on all of them, and treated their maladies. The corpsmen also improved the drinking water, helped clear and drain the swamp, sprayed for mosquitos, and reduced the number of snakes and bears in the area. His experience with the environmental conditions at Montford Point was a catalyst for his post-war career.

Robert Hammond had to deal with his own health when he was on leave in Philadelphia. He had an appendectomy, and while he was convalescing at Asbury Park, New Jersey, the Montford Point Marines were shipped out to the Pacific. Hammond eventually caught up with them on Guam at the tail end of the war. He was assigned to the medical dispensary for the 51st and 52nd Marine Defense Battalions in June [Annotator's Note: June 1945], and the conflict ended in August. Hammond notes that the Montford Point Marines served in antiaircraft battalions and service battalions, but were never assigned to combat. Hammond's amphibious landing on Guam was uncontested, but he felt brave and excited to come down the ramp onto the beach. He was trucked to an all African-American base, Camp Wise, which was a supply base with a dispensary. He remembers a Japanese fighter pilot who would come over base with machine guns blazing at two in morning, and the soldiers being happy when that pilot was shot down. While he was on Guam there was scuttlebutt that caused a riot between the white and black soldiers. It all started over gifts to the native girls, a practice which was no longer permitted after the island commander declared martial law, and the soldiers were no longer allowed in the villages.

Robert Hammond's medical training was in suturing, and one of his major challenges on Guam occurred when there were no doctors around and a man came in with a split from his index finger all the way up his arm. Hammond had to tie off vessels [Annotator's Note: blood vessels], do extensive stitching, and bandage the wounds. When the dressing came off, the attending doctor commented that he could not have done any better. Hammond said the corpsmen respected those Marines, and gave them good medical care for problems that included malaria, broken bones, gunshot wounds and injuries from fights. He marvels that the military, rather than labeling blood by scientific type, labeled the bottles to indicate White, Black, Latino, and Native American donors. Hammond credits Dr. Charles Drew with setting the standards and saving thousands of lives. [Annotator's Note: Charles Drew was an African-American surgeon who pioneered methods of storing blood plasma for transfusions.] The Montford Point Marines really appreciated their corpsmen, and even called Hammond "Doc." However, it was camp inspections, insuring food and water quality, and mosquito abatement that fascinated him, and got him into environmental studies. With help from the G.I. Bill, Hammond got a degree from Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was first employed by the Army Quartermaster Corps in Philadelphia, then started working in environmental health for city government there, which launched his environmental career. Progressing to California as an environmental specialist, he went on to Dayton, Ohio as Director of Environmental Health.

Robert Hammond didn't like the military's practice of segregation. At the time he first encountered prejudice in South Carolina, he stayed away from it, then later fought it wherever he could through acts of defiance and sometimes damage. He felt, however, that in World War 2 the Montford Point Marines were treated with respect for the most part. Some black soldiers received awards for their service in the war, but Hammond thinks more should have been recognized. He was a great supporter of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his movement. He thinks young people today should know exactly what happened in World War 2. Hammond's message to those who come after him is to look back on American history, and know that the country had to go through difficult periods, but there were also many good things that happened. The famous blacks and whites all helped make America what it is now. Hammond hopes that in the 2000s, there will be e pluribus unum, and all Americans are one. He feels sure America will survive and will be better.