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Casualty Info
Home Town Coatesville, Pennsylvania
Last Address Robert is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines
Casualty Date Oct 13, 1944
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Air Loss, Crash - Sea
Location Pacific
Conflict World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Asiatic-Pacific Specified Raids (1944)/Formosa Air Battle
Location of Interment Buried at Sea, Pacific Ocean
Other Memories Robert was then sent to Quincy, Massachusetts to join the Essex Class aircraft carrier USS Wasp CV-18 then under construction. (The earlier Wasp CV-7 was sunk in September 1942. The new carrier near completion was originally to be named Oriskany, but the name was changed to honor the earlier Wasp). Robert was a "Plank Owner", a member of the ship's crew at the time it was commissioned.
The Wasp was launched in August 1943 (left) and commissioned in November. After training in the Atlantic, the ship transited the Panama Canal, arriving at Pearl Harbor, in April 1944. The carrier conducted further training and then joined the fleet of fast attack carriers alternatively designated Task Force 58 (while commanded by Admiral Raymond Spruance) and Task Force 38 (while commanded by Admiral Bull Halsey).
