Robert Emmett Keenan
Military ROLL OF HONOUR
Robert Bobby Keenan, back middle
Thornton Audrain, back left
Ralph Paul Smith, bottom 2nd from right Robert Bobby Keenan
Ralph Paul Smith is my father and that is his picture.
Object Number - UPL 36529 - Group Photo Robert Bobby Keenan, back middle Thornton Audrain, back left Ralph Paul Smith, bottom 2nd from right
Killed in Action (KIA) - March 1, 1945 in a mid-air collision over Ostend, Belgium of his B-17 Serial 43-38273 with 42-38035 of the same formation.
Awards: Air Medal, Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 385th Bomb Group 550th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39551795
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 385th Bomb Group
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 385th Bomb Group 550th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-782153
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 385th Bomb Group 550th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 36441410
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
- Role/Job: Aerial Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 385th Bomb Group 550th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 34834337
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
Aircraft
Missions
- Date: 1 March 1945
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Revisions
Air Medal: "Reno Navigator Wins Air Medal" - Reno Evening Gazette, 7 Feb 1945, page 5
Oak Leaf Cluster: "Two Airmen Again Cited" - Reno Evening Gazette, 17 Feb 1945, pg 14
Oak Leaf Cluster: Copy of typed notice of award dated 14 Jan 1945
Death: War Department US Army Air Force Report of Aircraft Accident [with Statement of Witness]
Combat Chronology / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia
