Bob loved God, family and his country. He grew up during the depression and began working at age 8 or 9. He lettered in 4 varsity sports in high school (Football, Basketball, Tennis and Track) and went to Michigan Tech on a football scholarship in the fall of 1941. He was 10 days shy of his 18th birthday and a graduating high school senior when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on June 7th 1941. He tried to join the merchant marines because they were offering a bonus of 4500 for each voyage that left American waters. His parents, however, refused to sign his papers. Later, in 1942, he took and passed the air cadet written and physical exams. Since he was 19 and he was free of parental restrictions, he enlisted in the air corps. His older brother had done the same thing and became a P-38 pilot. Bob wanted his 'wings and a commission' but he had no interest in flying an airplane. He learned that Bombardiers went through the shortest training cycle (6 months) of all the flying officers. The pilot course, by contrast was a year. There were so many men asking to be pilots that many of them ended up with no commission and serving as enlisted men in other trades. He graduated from Bombardier school in August, 1943 and departed for Europe on Dec. 13, 1943. He was shot down on 2/24/44 near the village of Herbstein, Ger. ,after successfully bombing the Gothaer Waggon Fabrik AG in Gotha. Thirteen of the 25 B-24's from the 445th were shot down that day, for which they received the Presidential Unit Citation. After bailing out of the nose of the plane, he eventually was captured and he became a Prisoner of War (POW) in Barth, Germany at Stalag Luft 1, South compound, Barracks 1, room 10. Despite the boredom and the lack of heat and food (he lost 55 lbs) he remembers with pleasure one day when three P-51 Mustangs buzzed the camp and the American pilots wagged their wings as they went over. This heightened the Prisoner of War (POW)s morale. He was liberated by the Russians in May of 1945 and returned to Michigan Tech in January of 1946 where he co-captained the football team and received a degree in Civil Engineering.



Presidential Unit Citation/Purple Heart/POW Medal/EAME Medal/Good Conduct/WW II Victory Medal/Air Medal/ 6 service Bronze Stars