It was summer day in 1943 when Niles’ Joe Bata helped to save President Franklin Roosevelt’s son, Franklin Junior.

That day Bata was one of the men aboard the Naval ship, the U.S.S. Strive, when out of the clear blue sky, a war plane just barely visible hummed above them in the Bay of Palermo Sicily.

“It was an airplane so high that you could not see it,” Bata said.

Not far off, Frank Jr. was serving as the captain aboard a destroyer that was feeling the wrath of the plane high above. As Frank’s ship began to sink, the U.S.S. Strive pulled alongside the vessel and administered sump pumps to keep the ship from going under. While Frank Jr. was saved, not everyone walked away from the attack. Some of the men perished below the deck in the engine room. 

Bata never got any thank-you from the president, but he would go on to do many things to make his country proud.

Bata grew up in Niles on an 80-acre farm on Portage Road. He was raised by his grandparents, Elizabeth and Alex, and the family grew a number of crops, including wheat and grapes. Each day, Bata rose early to milk the cows down the dirt road and then he attended class in a one-room school house called Gitchell’s School.

Bata went to school until he was 11 years old. At 17, he tried to join the Army but was turned away because he was too young. So instead, Bata went and signed up for the Navy.

“I thought it was my duty to serve,” Bata said from his current home on State Street in Niles.

He went through nine weeks of boot camp at Camp Green Bay in Wisconsin and was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Strive.   

Now 92 years old, the World War II veteran can still recall vividly his days spent aboard the U.S.S. Strive — a mine sweeper ship, tasked with the potentially deadly duty to rid the seas of the hidden traps. Bata’s main duties aboard the ship were helping to manage the deck crew, a title he earned working his way up from apprentice seaman.

At his kitchen table Thursday with his wife, Barbara, Bata flipped through a photo album filled with military documents, black and white photos, sketches of the U.S.S. Strive and even an application for “A Date with a Sailor.”

In the time he served, Bata endured multiple invasions in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific, including the Battle on Anzio and “Operation Dragoon” to invade southern France. For his duties, Bata was awarded seven bronze stars.

There were days when Bata readily admits he was scared. He remembers the planes dropping bombs and even on days when shrapnel did not fall, how rough the waters and choppy the waters were.

When Bata was honorably discharged he carried his medals with him, as well as several souvenir weapons.

“I had two sea bags full of souvenirs: guns, swords,” Bata said.

However, Bata was told that these materials, including his medals, would have to be shipped to him. But the items never showed up.

For his 90th birthday, Barbara decided to surprise him. She got in contact with U.S. Rep. Fred Upton’s office and his staff helped to replace Bata’s his lost medals. Bata keeps them snug in a red fabric lined box with a glass case topping. The box also includes a black and white photo of the U.S.S. Strive and Bata dressed in his uniform. 

Following his service in the Navy, Bata then spent eight years serving in the Military Reserves. Today it’s still easy to catch a glimpse of the young witty soldier— just ask Bata how he is doing.

“Copacetic,” Bata will answer with a grin. The word means “in excellent order.”

On most days when Bata leaves the house, he dons his World War II veteran cap. There have been several occasions, whether in line at the grocery store or buying a Frosty with his wife at Wendy’s, when people will thank him.

Once at Harding’s, a woman who saw the cap turned to Bata.

“Thanks for saving my ass,” she said.

That one, like all the other expressions of gratitude, makes Bata smile — some even make him tear up as he remembers all that he and thousands of other veterans sacrificed to protect their country.

Bata’s story, like so many others, reminds citizens the importance of expressing gratitude to veterans and not just on this upcoming Veterans Day, but any day.

For Bata, it is a reminder that the sacrifice he made is not forgotten.

“I always say, ‘thanks for remembering,’” Bata said.