Robert Marovelli was born in May 1925 in Lafferty, Ohio. His father, a coal miner, moved his wife and four children to successive Pennsylvania coal mining towns seeking work. His mother did some seamstress work, and during the war she took employment in a factory sewing military supplies. Growing up in a coal mining town during the Great Depression was made somewhat easier because his father had a very successful garden and orchard. He doesn't recall discussing world events while at school, except for talk about the immigrants in his neighborhood, some of them spies. Marovelli found seeing pictures of them making their salute rather scary. In his own home, there was talk about Mussolini; his father had not yet become a citizen, and they would tease him about being a Tuscano. An illiterate immigrant who spoke broken English, his father did not approve of Mussolini, so took offence at the kidding. Even with two family members serving in the American military, government agents characterized his father as an enemy alien, and took out the short wave component of his radio. Marovelli quit high school in his senior year, finishing his education after his discharge.

Robert Marovelli clearly remembers being in the bathtub on 7 December 1941, when the announcement came over the radio that Pearl Harbor was being bombed. He didn't like the news, which he recognized would have an impact on his later life. He was prompted to join the armed services because of that attack, and a hint by one of his teachers that that if he joined the military, the government might pay for his higher education, something he thought he could in no other way afford. His first choice was not the Navy; he wanted to go into the Coast Guard, thinking it would be safer than going overseas. The Coast Guard quota was filled so he enlisted in the Navy, against his mother's wishes. He went to basic training at Samson Naval Training Base in New York, and it scared him at first. An awkward interview after graduation left him slated for training as a torpedoman, and he went to Newport, Rhode Island for further training. There he excelled and was promoted to Torpedoman 3rd Class. He was moved to another training facility, and believed he was destined for submarines, but his interest was captured by the PT boats [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boats], and he volunteered for them. After advanced torpedo training, he was sent to the west coast.

Robert Marovelli responded to the propaganda about the Japanese, and couldn't help having bad feelings about them. After completing training, he went to San Bruno, California and boarded the SS Julia [Annotator's Note: cannot verify ship]. The unescorted ship had a circuitous month-long trip to Papua, New Guinea and the crew members occupied much of their time with gambling. Marovelli couldn't participate because he was broke, and since his duties included standing watch, he amused himself observing the sea life. He disembarked near Finschhafen, where there was a tent base, and he pulled duty on a garbage truck. He remembers seeing Japanese prisoners there with their heads shaved. Some inquiries revealed that he had been improperly assigned, and he was ultimately sent to PT-368 at Mios Woendi. He had the good fortune of attending a Bob Hope show, which also featured Carol Landis and Jerry Colona. Unfortunately, the program was interrupted twice because of bombing.

The invasion of Morotai had been building up, and Robert Marovelli's ship joined the convoy going to battle. General MacArthur was there. The SS Julia [Annotator's Note: cannot verify ship] dropped anchor at Soemi Soemi, and with a buddy, Marovelli jumped into the water and swam to the island. Natives, chewing betel nuts, greeted them, and tried to kiss their feet. They quickly returned to the ship, and from there observed welcoming celebrations of all sorts. Soon the Army came and removed the natives and built a base. It wasn't long, according to Marovelli, before they lost the 368 [Annotator's Note: PT-368]. His fighting position while in combat was in the turrets on the machine guns. They were swinging in pretty close, in the dark and along uncharted shoreline, and got hung up on a reef. They had been patrolling with another PT boat [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boat], and it tried to tow the 368 free, but the attempt was unsuccessful. All the while, there was gunfire coming from the shore. The crew set an explosive device and abandoned ship. Marovelli gathered some small arms and ammunition and took cover behind a raft. While waiting for rescue by their companion PT boat, his captain ordered Marovelli to get into the raft and man the machine gun, in case of attack. He didn't like being exposed to the fire from the shore, and was relieved when they were finally picked up. Marovelli was reassigned to the 363 [Annotator's Note: PT-363], along with some of his old crew. Earlier, crewmembers of the 363 had been decorated for saving a pilot under dangerous circumstances. Although he was replacement on the 363, he was the ranking enlisted man, and they all got along very well. On the 363, Marovelli was responsible for the four torpedoes and the depth charges. There was an interpreter on their boat whose job, when they approached a village, was to ask if there were any Japanese there. If they didn't get a "no" response, they would blow up the village. He always hoped they were successful in getting rid of some Japanese.

Robert Marovelli said the PT boats [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boats] patrolled every night, and had to be readied for battle every day. The 363 [Annotator's Note: PT-363] was called upon once in daytime to destroy enemy barges that were landing on Morotai. Marovelli thinks he fired 600 rounds on that occasion, and had a near miss during one of his three career experiences with friendly fire. When PT-363 was attacked, Marovelli was standing deck watch. It was just daybreak, and a cannon shot from the shore hit the main fuel line, rendering the 363 dead in the water. Marovelli was firing away at the gun emplacements in the jungle as long as he could. Another PT boat came to their rescue, and Marovelli, once on board the rescue boat, shouted that they had to sink the 363 to prevent it from getting into the hands of the Japanese. Only three crewmembers escaped the 363 without being killed or wounded. When they got back to base, he and two other survivors from the 363 flew out of Morotai to the Marshall Islands, then sailed back to the United States. The memory of that patrol has bothered him through the years.

Robert Marovelli arrived in San Francisco with his uniform a shambles, and the orders for new clothes had been fouled. He tried to go into San Francisco to get fresh clothes, but he and his friends were turned back because they were out of uniform. The Red Cross got them squared away. While he was trying on replacement clothes for size, Marovelli realized that his skin was yellowed from the anti-malarial tablets he had been taking in the Pacific. He had a brief appointment with a Navy psychiatrist while he was in San Francisco, then traveled cross-country to get home, where he got a warm welcome. He regrets that he hadn't been very good at keeping in touch while he was away. [Annotator's Note: Marovelli cries at this admission.] In a time of rationing, his mother was very gracious when he brought his buddies home to dinner.

At the end of the war, Robert Marovelli was on the staff of the training squadron, and toured with PT-558, helping to sell war bonds. He received orders to return to the Pacific for extra hazardous duty for the invasion of Japan when word came, with a keg of beer, that the atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan and the war was going to end. He misunderstood an offer to go to Annapolis, and responded that he was ready to get out of the Navy. Discharged in 1946, Marovelli went back to high school along with another veteran who had been in Europe. One day he happened upon the evening news, hosted by Tom Brokaw, and learned that buddy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Marovelli finished high school, and with funds from the G.I. Bill and a part-time job as a carpenter, he attended the University of Alaska.

Robert Marovelli has written articles for the PT [Annotator's Note: patrol torpedo boat] organization. He described the fundraising tour of the PT-558 all along the east coast. He had an opportunity to take some people from the Packard Motor Company on board, and was hosted for an evening by one of the company's owners. [Annotator's Note: PT boats were powered by Packard V-12 engines.] There were other dignitaries and celebrities who participated in the fundraising as well. While speaking of celebrities, Marovelli was reminded that during a hospital stay for gastroenteritis, he shared a room with a Vanderbilt. His postwar career was with the Bureau of Mines, and was chief of Mine Health and Safety Research at one time, and chief of the Division of Minerals Availability at another. His job required international negotiations, and he went to Russia for talks during the cold war.

Robert Marovelli decided to go into the Navy because so many young men were being killed by the Japanese. He feels the war changed his life by giving him a certain amount of confidence, and bettering his ability to train and deal with people. Marovelli praised Tom Brokaw's book for its depiction of the people of the World War 2 generation. He feels that the memory of the war, for most people, has become distant; another episode in history. However, of his five children, his youngest son is a student of the event, and very knowledgeable. He thinks The National WWII Museum is great, and that we should continue to teach the lessons of the war, because there is always the threat of a dictator. He also admires the World War II monument in Washington D.C. He would like to come to New Orleans to go out on PT-305.