( see story below )
" Click Here " for his burial in Maine.
Robert served as a Second Lieutenant & Co-Pilot on B-25J #44-29760, 100th Bomber Squadron, 42nd Bomber Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
He resided in Oxford County, Maine prior to the war.
He enlisted as a Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Corps on January 27, 1942 in Portland, Maine. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Financial institution clerk and also as Single, without dependents.
He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on January 14, 1943.
Robert was "Killed In Action" when his B-25, which took off from Puerto Princesa Airfield on a combat mission to provide ground support for U. S. Army forces liberating Cebu City, apparently stalled during the mission and crashed near Consolacion on Cebu Island during the war.
He was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
Service # O-796347
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Airmen who perished on this flight:
Bedard, Harry L ~ 2nd Lt, Navigator, MN
Ehrhardt, Willis W ~ Sgt, Gunner, CA
Emerson, Robert ~ 2nd Lt, Co-Pilot, ME
Miller, Louis H ~ T/Sgt, Radio Operator, PA
Orcutt, Leonard E ~ Capt, Pilot, CA
Winkler, George L ~ S/Sgt, Top Turret Gunner, WV
Bio & Crew Report by:
Russell S. "Russ" Pickett
Special thanks to:
ShaneO for submitting this record for bio updates!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Story of discovery:
On April 3, 1945, Orcutt and his crew took off in their B-25J Mitchell bomber from Palawan Field, Philippines. The pilot of another aircraft in the flight reported seeing Orcutt's plane stall out and crash about one mile northeast of the village of Consolacion in a swampy area. There were no survivors.
In early 1947, personnel from the Army's Graves Registration Service recovered additional remains from the crash site and buried them as unknowns in Leyte, Philippines. Later that year, they were exhumed and transferred to Manila for possible identification. In 1949, a military review board declared these unknown group remains to be those of the aircrew and re-buried them at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.
Two years later, the Graves Registration Service returned to the crash site and recovered additional remains. The case was reanalyzed and a recommendation was made that the group remains at Jefferson Barracks be disinterred for individual identification. All remains from the crash site were examined with no resulting identification. They were reburied at the same location. A sister of one of the airmen contacted the Army in 2001 upon learning of the recovery of additional remains in the 1950s. The Army then disinterred the group remains at Jefferson Barracks in 2008 which were taken to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii for identification.
DoD press release, June 22, 2011
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14595
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
( see story below )
" Click Here " for his burial in Maine.
Robert served as a Second Lieutenant & Co-Pilot on B-25J #44-29760, 100th Bomber Squadron, 42nd Bomber Group, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.
He resided in Oxford County, Maine prior to the war.
He enlisted as a Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Corps on January 27, 1942 in Portland, Maine. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Financial institution clerk and also as Single, without dependents.
He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on January 14, 1943.
Robert was "Killed In Action" when his B-25, which took off from Puerto Princesa Airfield on a combat mission to provide ground support for U. S. Army forces liberating Cebu City, apparently stalled during the mission and crashed near Consolacion on Cebu Island during the war.
He was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
Service # O-796347
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Airmen who perished on this flight:
Bedard, Harry L ~ 2nd Lt, Navigator, MN
Ehrhardt, Willis W ~ Sgt, Gunner, CA
Emerson, Robert ~ 2nd Lt, Co-Pilot, ME
Miller, Louis H ~ T/Sgt, Radio Operator, PA
Orcutt, Leonard E ~ Capt, Pilot, CA
Winkler, George L ~ S/Sgt, Top Turret Gunner, WV
Bio & Crew Report by:
Russell S. "Russ" Pickett
Special thanks to:
ShaneO for submitting this record for bio updates!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Story of discovery:
On April 3, 1945, Orcutt and his crew took off in their B-25J Mitchell bomber from Palawan Field, Philippines. The pilot of another aircraft in the flight reported seeing Orcutt's plane stall out and crash about one mile northeast of the village of Consolacion in a swampy area. There were no survivors.
In early 1947, personnel from the Army's Graves Registration Service recovered additional remains from the crash site and buried them as unknowns in Leyte, Philippines. Later that year, they were exhumed and transferred to Manila for possible identification. In 1949, a military review board declared these unknown group remains to be those of the aircrew and re-buried them at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.
Two years later, the Graves Registration Service returned to the crash site and recovered additional remains. The case was reanalyzed and a recommendation was made that the group remains at Jefferson Barracks be disinterred for individual identification. All remains from the crash site were examined with no resulting identification. They were reburied at the same location. A sister of one of the airmen contacted the Army in 2001 upon learning of the recovery of additional remains in the 1950s. The Army then disinterred the group remains at Jefferson Barracks in 2008 which were taken to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii for identification.
DoD press release, June 22, 2011
http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=14595
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inscription
2LT, US ARMY AIR FORCES WORLD WAR II
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