Memorial

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1st Lt Robert W. Blaine graduated from Plano High School and attended North Texas Teachers College and Southern Methodist University. He worked on a farm.

He joined the Air Corps of the Regular Army as an aviation cadet in Dallas, Texas on 30 December 1940. He was sent overseas in October 1942.

At 1401 hours at 23,000 feet and approximately 5 to 6 miles inland from the French Coast, some 40 to 50 FW 190s attacked the formation. The attacks came from 12 o´clock, slightly below in parallel javelin formation. Aircraft number 41-23988 was hit and the #3 engine caught fire. The pilot, Lt Blaine, kept his aircraft on an even keel until the right fin and rudder broke off, at which time the aircraft went into a spin some ten miles inland from the French coast. Crews returning reported that some six parachutes were seen to open, and shortly thereafter the aircraft exploded.

Ten crew members were killed. Only the navigator survived and was taken POW. The remains of the killed crew members were interred in the Canadian Military Cemetery in Les Vertus. On 28 and 29 April 1947 the remains of eight of them were recovered as unknowns by American Search and Recovery units and later identified. Field investigations, conducted on 30 April and 14 May 1947 failed to locate the remains of T/ Sgt George L. Nored and 1st Lt Robert W. Blaine.

It was heard that the cemetery was originally formed by German occupation troops and later taken over by the French authorities and in turn by Canadian and British personnel. The coffins were placed side by side in deep graves with no space between the coffins. At some later date, which could not be established, the French removed the crosses from every grave, graded the entire cemetery, and then replaced the crosses along the rows.