Memorial

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T/5 Robert H. Whitley Jr. was a chauffeur before he joined the Regular Army in Jacksonville, Florida on 8 August 1940.

He was manning a machine gun when a German mortar shell landed in his foxhole, which killed him instantaneous. The explosion hit his foxhole directly, and it was believed at the time that his body was destroyed. He was reported missing in action, presumed dead, since his body could not be recovered and circumstances clearly suggested that he had been killed. A subsequent search in the area in 1950 by Army Graves Registration Teams failed to locate his body, and he was declared as non-recoverable on 6 November 1950.

In June 1970, a Dutch farmer, P. J. Hendrix, discovered the body when digging the foundation for a new farm building. He reported the body to Dutch police and they, in turn, notified the Dutch Army, who relayed the report to US Army officials. Upon recovery, the remains were identified at the US Army Mortuary in
Frankfurt, Germany, using a combination of an Identification Tag (Dog Tag) found on the body and comparison with his dental charts.

He is now buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego County, California, Plot section Q, site 230.

His brother Ross was reported killed in action on 12 July 1943 in the Pacific.