Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
MONROE, Robert Whitney
Date of birth
7 January 1924
Age
20
Place of birth
Belleville, Republic County, Kansas
Hometown
Smith County, Kansas

Military service

Service number
17165490
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Radio Operator
Unit
579th Bombardment Squadron,
392nd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
29 April 1944
Place of death
In a forest on the outskirts of Dinklage, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
C 4 42

Immediate family

Members
Raymond I. Monroe (father)
Hazel M. Monroe (mother)
Eleanor Monroe (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
42-7510
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: El Lobo
Destination: Berlin
MACR: 4461

More information

No report exists in the MACR from in-flight eyewitness accounts on the loss of this aircraft. Other records indicated this aircrew did fly this mission with formations of the 392nd's sister group, the 44th, to the Berlin target complex. German eyewitnesses report hearing the sound of gunfire in the clouds and then seeing this B-24 descend through the clouds. Neither right engine was working and thick black smoke was coming from the forward part of the fuselage. The plane impacted in a forest on the outskirts of Dinklage, Germany.

S/Sgt Monroe was first buried in the Forest Cemetery in Vechta, Germany.

S/Sgt Monroe is remembered at Wallace Cemetery in Jewell, Jewell County, Kansas with a memorial marker.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.B24.net, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, WWII Draft Card, 1930 US Census

Photo source: www.findagrave.com, 392nd Bomb Group, www.findagrave.com - b24.net / John Dowdy