Keeping Legends Alive: Work Continues to Preserve Memories of Robert Pope Sr.

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Robert Pope, Senior was born in Mossyrock on March 23, 1924, and died on Oct. 12, 2016, in Arlington, Texas. In between those bookends Pope had a unique talent for finding himself in the fascinating crosshairs of history.

Before we get to his atomic and Antarctic adventures, we have to start in East Lewis County, where Pope’s roots run deep into the Cowlitz River drainage.

Pope was the great grandson of Floyd and Armedia Riffe, the namesakes of Riffe Lake. He even grew up in a home in Mossyrock that was built by Floyd Riffe that still stands today. The home has been considered for historical designation in recent years, though no final decisions have yet been made.

Pope’s mother, Gladys Collins Pope, ultimately divorced his father, Dallas Dale Pope, and remarried before moving the family to the Philippines. There the family ran a sawmill prior to World War II until the Japanese army began invading nearby countries, and the decision was made to send young Robert back stateside to live with his aunt in Tacoma until Gladys and Pope’s step-father could return.

The return never happened. Gladys and her new husband, Albert Waterstradt, never made it home, as they were captured by the Japanese and interned in prisoner-of-war camps. In 1944 Gladys earned the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first woman to die at Los Banos prison camp.

In 1941, at the age of 17 and full of a need for vengeance, Robert Pope Sr. enlisted in the U.S. Navy and joined the war on the Pacific front. While deployed he oftentimes found himself in direct conflict with the Japanese military while serving on the U.S.S. Oconto APA-187. 

Pope Sr. piloted a landing craft that brought troops to the shores of enemy beaches at Guadalcanal, Lingayen Gulf, Okinawa and Saipan, among other locations. On Sept. 8, 1945, just five days after the Japanese surrendered the war, Pope’s ship sailed into Tokyo Bay and became one of the first to unload troops and equipment for the impending occupation of Japan.

That naval experience led Pope into a post-war career of exploring the far reaches of the world by boat. First he was hired as part of the crew to build the U.S.S. Burton Island, which was a wind class icebreaker. 

That ship, captained by Admiral Byrd and with Pope on board, was used in its maiden voyage to make a historic landing on the shores of Antarctica in 1947. The landing was the first by American crews in the area, and Pope is believed to have been the first Washingtonian to set foot on the icy continent. 

The expedition, known as Operation Highjump, generated a long list of firsts. The crew were the first to enter the McMurdo Sound. It was the first to land a helicopter on the continent at Hut Point, and they were the first Americans to land at Cape Evans. 

It was at Cape Evans where Pope Sr. took his historic step onto Antarctica as a representative of The Evergreen State. The story of that expedition was told in a 90-page National Geographic layout as well as the 1948 MGM film “The Secret Land,” which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary. 



Pope Sr. would wind up making another trip to Antarctica the following year on a mapping mission and made three total trips to the Arctic.

After returning stateside and marrying his wife, Lucille, Pope received mysterious orders from the government that included a bus ticket to Albuquerque, New Mexico, that was provided by the FBI. The nature of the assignment was a mystery at first but Pope was eventually informed that the had been selected for a project intended to reverse engineer and diagram the physics of the Fat Man and Little Boy atomic bombs that had been dropped on Japan.

According to Robert Pope Jr., his father was chosen for the project because “of their strong character, intelligence and having the right stuff.” The rest of the project details have yet to be declassified and Pope Sr. was not able to travel outside of the country after his top-secret work in Albuquerque. 

Lucille Pope later joined Robert in Albuquerque, bringing along their daughter, Barbara. She then joined the military effort herself by constructing upgraded blueprints to the original bomb designs that Pope would then use in his work. 

While on assignment in Albuquerque, Lucille birthed the couple’s second child, a daughter named Kathy, at the military base hospital. The Popes are said to have enjoyed the thrill of bringing a baby into the world at one of the world’s most top secret military bases.

After completing their top-secret work in New Mexico, the family moved to San Diego where their third child, Robert Pope Jr., was born. Several years later the family moved to Seattle and then, again, to a ranch in Oregon near the ocean before ultimately settling in Texas in 1963. 

Robert Pope Sr. retired in 1990 and took care of Lucille until her passing on Aug. 14, 2016. The couple had been together for 70 years, but they were not separated for long as Pope Sr. followed Lucille home just under two months later.

In addition to ongoing conversations about making a possible historical designation of Pope’s childhood home in Mossyrock proper, preliminary discussions have been had about the possibility of renaming U.S. Highway 12 in honor of Robert Pope Sr. 

Not only does the highway pass through his hometown of Mossyrock and Riffe Lake, but it also reaches into the upper elevations surrounding Mount Rainier, which Pope Jr. notes bears a resemblance to the areas of Antarctica where his father made his mark.