US Army Air Corps 2Lt. Robert Minns Robertson was born in Pensacola, Florida on November 15, 1924, the son of Maurice Archer (1882-1926) and Elizabeth Mae Fields (1893-1989). His mother originated from Prince George County, MD and his father was a carpenter from Portsmouth, Virginia. They were married in Portsmouth in 1912. While there, his father was a iron worker in 1910 and by 1920 was a boat builder for the Navy Yard from which he supported his family. Following his father's death in 1926 in Pensacola, his mother would remarry to Herman Sternberg Robertson (1883-1960) in 1930. His stepfather was working as a "joiner" at NAS and would retire from the Civil Service there. During their life together his mother and stepfather lived off Gulf Beach Highway in Pleasant Grove. In the meantime, Robert would go on to graduate from Pensacola High School in 1941 before taking a job at the Sear & Roebuck store downtown at 105 South Palafox Street.
After WWII began, Robert went out to Ft. Barrancas to the US Army Air Corps recruitment office and enlisted in the Air Corps on March 10, 1942. His training would take him to Drane Field in Lakeland, Florida where he was married Bethleen May Van Curen from St. Petersburg in February 1943. Robert was stationed there for training in the new Martin B-26 Marauder bomber. The airfield was used to take graduates from the twin-engine flight schools and technical training commands for transitional training of the pilots and their flight crews. Upon completion, the graduates were sent to newly forming units for combat training before heading overseas.
Upon completion of all training, it was time to join their units overseas. Robert was assigned to the 417th Bomber Squadron attached to the 319th Bombardment Group. The squadron proceeded overseas via the Northern Atlantic route, which took them through England then on to Algeria in North Africa. The 319th went into combat on November 28, 1942, flying missions against rail yards, bridges, airdromes, and harbor installations. Their losses were high, mainly due to the fact that the B-26 aircraft were not suitable for low level bombing. Thus, they were taken out of combat in February 1943 and retrained for medium altitude attacks, which was more compatible with the plane's capabilities. When they returned to a combat roll on June 26, the squadron was moved to Djedieda, Algeria. Since ground fighting had moved to Sicily, then on to Italy. their new airfield shortened their flying time to the targets there.
On or about August 8, 1943, Robert and his bomber "Madame Trouble" were on a mission when he stated in a letter to his family that his plane "was shot out from under him!" Given another B-26, he and his crew took off from Djedieda on August 22nd for a bombing mission over Salerno, Italy, located 37 miles south of Naples or 16 miles from Pompei. After they dropped their bombs, they were on the way back to Djedieda when they ran into a swarm of German fighters. During the fight, an American fighter pilot was seriously wounded and in his agony, pulled his control stick back towards him. He and his plane shot upwards into the belly of Robert's bomber. Both planes spiraled down into the Tyrrhenian Sea with only two gunners from Robert's plane escaping. Both became POW's however none of the others were ever recovered.
His wife and family were notified that he was missing in action and his name was later inscribed on the tablets of the missing in Rome, Italy. Afterwards, his wife would remarry in 1945 to Richard Stephan George Shipley however, after several months she remarried Samuel Anthony Gossaceca in 1945.
Comments