Robert Leland Anstey
MilitaryRobert Leland Anstey I
Brief Life History of Robert Leland
When Robert Leland Anstey I was born on 15 July 1921, in Creston, Union, Iowa, United States, his father, Alban George Anstey, was 21 and his mother, Bernice Ione Crist, was 19. He married Erma Mae Andrews on 4 October 1941, in Harrisburg, Banner, Nebraska, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 1 daughter. He lived in United States in 1949 and District 2, Prince George's, Maryland, United States in 1950. He registered for military service in 1941. He died on 28 July 1991, in Natick, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, at the age of 70, and was buried in Cass, Iowa, United States.
Revisions
Robert L. Anstey was my father. His middle name is spelled "Leland", and his airplane was named after my mother. It was the ERMA MAE, not the Emma Mae.
After my father's plane was shot down, all the crew survived and were taken captive by the Germans. My father was never taken captive, and he was NOT a POW at any time. He hid under deep drifts of pine needles from German patrols after bailing out last, and told me that he landed it so hard and close to the ground that his boot laces snapped. He said he could see German patrols passing his hiding place about 20 feet away.
My father made it to the sentries at Bastogne. His lips and face were burned by the fire in the aircraft, so he couldn't speak very well. The sentries thought he was a German spy. They asked him questions about baseball, which he couldn't answer, because he wasn't a baseball fan.
Eventually he made it into Bastogne, and he was there for the siege. He was in a church that the allied troops had set aside for the wounded. He was there till the siege ended, and then made his way under orders, walking and hitching to his own unit.