Career of service
In another life, Robert “Pete” Watson would have a long naval career in the submarine service.
Instead, a death in the family, brought him back to stay in his hometown of Slippery Rock and a 16-year career as Butler County sheriff and another 10 as a magistrate.Watson, 95, remembers growing up during the Depression and acquiring his nickname when he was 10 years old.
“I always went by Pete. In the early '30s I had an Uncle Peter and I followed him around. That's how I got the nickname. I had it ever since I can remember,” he said.
He grew up in Slippery Rock and has lived there his whole life.
His father, Grover Cleveland Watson, had a general store across from the Slippery Rock University campus.
He and his wife, Florence had five children, three boys and two girls.
“I can tell you growing up in a small town during the Depression, there weren't jobs anywhere. It was tough,” he said.
When World War II broke out, all three Watson brothers, John, Tom and Robert, joined the military.
Watson said his brother, John, served in the Army from 1941 until 1945. He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. John served in the Army Intelligence Branch and created several maps that were used for the Normandy Invasion.
When it was his turn to serve, Watson joined the Navy and went into the submarine service.“I loved it. I loved every job I ever had. I tried to find out about as much of it as I could,” Watson said.After attending diesel training school in Illinois, the Navy sent him to New Hampshire where he was present at the commissioning and launch of the submarine USS Tirante in December 1944. He was assigned to the Tirante as a motor machinist's mate.“I traveled all over the damn submarine except for the forward and aft torpedo rooms,” he said.Following a month's shakedown cruise, the Tirante sailed south down the East Coast for the Panama Canal careful to stay in a convoy of other American vessels to fend off the chance of coming under friendly fire.“The Air Corps guys didn't give a damn if it was an American or Nazi sub,” he said.Once through the canal and into the Pacific, the submarine sank Japanese cargo and military vessels including an engagement where the Tirante slipped into a South Korean island's harbor and sank a transport vessel and two escort ships.“We started into the harbor at 4 a.m. in 49 feet of water. We couldn't dive,” he said. That action earned its captain Lt. Cmdr. George L. Street III the Medal of Honor and the submarine the Presidential Group Citation.During a second tour of duty, Watson was injured when his submarine was taking a depth-charge attack.“We spent 18 hours lying on the bottom of the ocean. I was trying to move a tool box when I tore my groin,” he said. “I found out it was a hernia, and I was put in the base hospital at Guam.”While he was hospitalized, the Tirante shipped out for what would have been its third tour when the atom bomb was dropped bringing the war to an end.“I was on Guam for a couple of months trying to find a submarine coming back to the United States,” he said, before signing on with another submarine, the USS Sea Cat.Intending to re-enlist in the Sea Cat's crew, he came home on leave to Slippery Rock.“I hitchhiked from Butler, went to Dad's store to say, 'Hi.' On Sunday, we had a big dinner. Monday, I was at the high school seeing some old teachers when they told me Dad dropped dead of a stroke,” Watson said.That ended his plans to re-enlist, he said.“I really liked the submarine service. Submariners are just like brothers. They stick together,” he said.Instead he helped his mother run the store until they sold it.
He became a deputy for Butler County Sheriff Bud Walker in the 1950s.“Bud Walker had cancer. He wanted me to run (for sheriff). I thought Bud was a great guy. I ran in 1965 and won,” he said.He was sheriff for 16 continuous years. A lot of the work in the sheriff's office is serving papers and arranging sheriff's sales, but in Watson's words “we had a lot of trouble.”“We had a lot of murders in this county. Sanderson shot his parents. We had a lot of killing,” he said. “In Adams Township, a woman shot her boyfriend.” The fact she didn't bury him deep enough eventually led to the uncovering of the crime, he added.He decided to step down in 1981.“I hated to leave the sheriff's office. I knew I could have won without trouble,” he said, but a pay schedule dispute with the county commissioners helped make his decision to step down easier.Then he ran for magistrate, won and held that office for 10 years before retiring in 1991.A former Republican committeeman in Slippery Rock, he's still intensely interested in politics.“I've enjoyed every job I had my whole lifetime. I always got along with people. I met wonderful people who have helped me along,” he said.
