Bellaire, Robert 1914-1945

BELLAIRE, BADGEROW

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 4/9/2020 at 11:33:22

Sioux City Journal, Monday, October 1, 1945

[Front Page Headline-Included his photo]

ROBERT BELLAIRE KILLED IN JAPAN
Noted Sioux City Newspaper Man ‘Accident’ Victim
Grim Message to His Parents Contains No Detail

Robert Bellaire, former Sioux Cityan who was United Press bureau manager in Tokyo at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has been killed in an accident in Tokyo, to which he recently returned as far eastern correspondent for Collier’s magazine. He was 31.

Word of the death was received Sunday night by the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Bellaire, now of Bronxville, N.Y., according to an Associated Press dispatch early today. The parents, former well known Sioux Cityans, had no additional details on the death, the dispatch stated.

The widow is the former Mona Badgerow, daughter of the late E. M. Badgerow and Mrs. Badgerow, prominent Sioux Cityans. There are three children.

Mr. Bellaire was honored here at a civic “welcome home” luncheon in September, 1942, at the Mayfair hotel on his return from a Japanese internment camp between Tokyo and Yokohama where he spent six months.

He was born at LeMars, Ia. in 1914. The family moved to Sioux City, where Robert attended Central high school. He had the distinction of being the youngest person to be graduated from that school.

WORKED FOR PAPER HERE.
He worked his way through Columbia University, wrote freelance for the Baltimore Sun and Toronto Star, tutored English and assisted in the Columbia University department of government.

Mr. Bellaire returned to Sioux City and was employed a year in the advertising department of the old Sioux City Tribune, leaving there in 1936 for a trip around the world. He interrupted his travel in Shanghai to join the United Press, where he handled general news coverage until the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war, when he was put in charge of the night desk and covered daytime news breaks.

In 1937 he moved to the city desk and in 1938 became Shanghai’s bureau manager, three years later becoming bureau manager in Tokyo.

While touring Chungking during Japanese air raids, Mr. Bellaire narrowly escaped death on two occasions. Once a 100-pound bomb crashed through a roof and fell only 20 feet from him, but it was a dud. Later a bomb wrecked part of the Cathay hotel, damaging a room in which the newsman was sleeping.

MARRIED IN TOKYO.
Mr. Bellaire married Miss Badgerow in 1937 in Tokyo. She returned to Sioux City in 1940, when women and children were being evacuated from China. Their second child was born here.

When Japan began its war against the United States, Mr. Bellaire was imprisoned. Once he and other newsmen were tortured for hours in order to induce them to write pro-Japanese statements.

He finally was included in the first prisoner exchange and disembarked at New York August 25 after a 70-day voyage on the Gripsholm.

While in Sioux City in 1942, he appeared before several large groups and later made an extensive lecture tour. He wrote several articles on his imprisonment, most of which appeared in Collier’s. In 1943, he joined the Blue network commentator staff and presented a weekly broadcast.

RANK EQUAL TO MAJOR.
Mr. Bellaire later was appointed far eastern editor for the U.P. in New York City, a position he held until his recent assignment as correspondent for Collier’s. His area included Japan, Korea, Manchuria, China, Indo-China, the Philippines, Thailand, Burma, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and Australia.

He was in army uniform with an assigned rank equivalent to a major.

The Associated Press dispatch announcing Mr. Bellaire’s death came from New York at 1:58 o’clock this morning. It read as follows:

“New York.—(AP) –Robert Bellaire, far east correspondent for Collier’s magazine, died recently in an accident in Tokyo, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Bellaire of Bronxville, N.Y., said they had been informed Sunday night. The parents of the correspondent said they had no additional details on the death.”