A legacy remembered: Late World War II veteran and city official honored with bench dedication – Leader Publications

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James Wear (left) and Hugh Wear II (right) sit on the bench dedicated to their father Hugh Wear. (Maxwell Harden | Leader Publications)

James Wear (left) and Hugh Wear II (right) pose for a family photo around the bench dedicated to their father Hugh Wear. (Maxwell Harden | Leader Publications)

DOWAGIAC – Extended family from across the country gathered in Dowagiac to celebrate one man’s dedication to his town and country.

A city bench in the 100 block of South Front Street in front of Baker’s Rhapsody was recently dedicated in honor of the late Hugh Donald Wear. Wear, who died in 1971 at age 68, was Cass County Drain Commissioner for two years, Dowagiac Utilities Supervisor for four years and a retired United States Coast Guard Captain.

He served in the Pacific during World War II and oversaw the construction of the Long Range Technology Station (LORAN), which was used by the Enola Gay to drop the first atomic bomb in a war.

“Our father played a significant and little-known role in the history of the atomic bomb,” said James Wear, one of Wear’s five children.

The dedication was a collaboration between the City of Dowagiac and the Wears. James graduated from Dowagiac Union High School in 1962 and went on to serve with the Army Security Agency in Vietnam. His brother, Hugh Wear II, served with the USCG.

For James, being back in the town he grew up in honor of his father meant everything.

“I wanted to do it because he did it for us,” James said.

A native of Colchester, Illinois, the son of Dowagiac Native Americans, Wear received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1929.

After graduating, he was commissioned as a reserve officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and retained that rank while employed in the U.S. Lighthouse Service until he accepted a rank in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939.

He served for nine years as a lighthouse engineer with the former U.S. Lighthouse Service, 11th District in Detroit, and was responsible for developing the radio beacon timer used by the Coast Guard nationwide.

When the Lighthouse Service was merged with the Coast Guard in 1939, he accepted a promotion to lieutenant.

During World War II, he served in the Pacific as chief of the engineering section of the 14th Coast Guard District with office in Honolulu and was involved in site selection for LORAN stations in the Marianas. The technology allowed aircraft to reduce the amount of extra fuel they would otherwise have to carry to ensure they could find their home base after a long mission, and also allowed aircraft to maintain radio silence during the long flights.

According to his sons, the place Wear talked about most was Tinian, where the Enola Gay – the first plane to drop an atomic bomb in war – flew to pick up the bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

Wear helped build the Tinian LORAN Station on the north side of Tinian while Marines and soldiers were still fighting the Japanese on the south side of the island.

After the war, Wear was stationed in Hawaii, where he was responsible for the deployment of the high-power light units in the Coast Guard lighthouses and played a key role in the development of numerous programs and services established by the Coast Guard.

Wear retired in 1963 after 35 years of service as chief of the District Engineering Division of the Fifth Coast Guard. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery.

Originally, the Wears wanted to set up their own plaza with the other veterans, but the city showed the family an open space downtown and the family decided to build a bench in his name.

“We wanted others to see what he did here,” James said. “We also wanted people to see what he did in Tinian.”