Continued from August 5.
After 175 combat hours and 75 missions, Robert Leety had the chance to return to the States, but didn't. "He knew his odds of survival were not great, but he wanted to finish what he had started when he first enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces back in March of 1943," said a niece. "He wanted to help the Allies defeat the Axis powers and create a peaceful post-war world."
He wouldn't live to see that.
On March 15, 1945, as he returned from a mission, he was shot down in France, near the German border.
He was 20 years old.
His remains were buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France.
Back in the United States, two weeks after his death, his family received a telegram informing them their son was missing in action. Three weeks after that, they received news of his death.
--GreGen
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