Plot: Tablets of the Missing. This is a cenotaph. His body was never recovered
Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 32471793
535th Bomber Squadron, 381st Bomber Group, Heavy
Entered the Service from: New York
Died: 5-Nov-43
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery
Margraten, Netherlands
Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
SSG Robert G. True was born in Ogden, Monroe, New York in 1921. He was the son of Morris and Marguerite True. After completing four years of high school he became a payroll clerk and timekeeper. He was not married. According to his enlistment record, Robert was 5'10" tall and weighed 134 pounds.
Robert enlisted in the city of Rochester on 14 September 1942. After training as an aerial gunner in the Army Air Corps, he reported to the 535th Bomber Squadron, 381st Bombardment Group out of Ridgewell Airbase in England. He was assigned as the left waist gunner on B-17F, tail number 42-30852, named the "Polly Ann."
On 5 November 1943, the Squadron participated in a 400 plane raid over Gelsenkirchen, Germany, dropping 500 pound demolition munitions. The mission was the second in a row in which maximum efforts were carried out under cloudy weather conditions. A new and secret "pathfinder" technique made it possible to engage in area bombing when weather conditions prevented precision bombing.
Fighter escorts accompanied the Squadron the entire way and enemy fighters offered only meager opposition. Flak was heavy causing five men in the Squadron to become wounded. One ship, the Polly Ann, was shot down by a German fighter. Five parachutes were seen, but only four survived.
The Polly Ann crew included: 1st Lt Donald K. Hopp, 2nd Lt Walter C. Carr, 2nd Lt Marshall E. Tyler, 1st Lt William J. Johnston; T/Sgts Alexander M. Girvan, Roy W. East, S/Sgt Armand R. Richard, S/Sgt Julius F. Greer, S/Sgt Robert G. True and S/Sgt Richard Woodyatt.
According to one surviving officer's report after the mission, the Polly Ann was hit by flack and the crew lost contact with the tail gunner. SSG True was on the way back from his position to the rear to check on the tail gunner when the B-17 was attacked by a German fighter. No further word was heard from SSG True and no acknowledgement was given by him when the Pilot commanded everyone to bail out.
SSG Robert G. True's body was never recovered. His name is inscribed with other missing airmen on a wall in the American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Limburg Provence, Netherlands. The other members of his crew that are also memorialized in Margraten are; Johnston, East, Richard, Greer and Woddyatt.
For his actions, SSG True was awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal.
Bio written at the request of: AllisonMac (#46626600)
This is a cenotaph. View other cenotaph Maple Grove Cemetery.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from New York.