Memorial Day - Robert L. Greene

Many observe Memorial Day.  Businesses close, families gather, reunions are held, graves are decorated and cemeteries are visited.  Though all are important and meaningful activities, those are not the real reason for Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is set aside to recognize, honor and pay tribute to those who gave their lives in the service of their country. Jewell Countians such as Omar Headrick, Aubrey Varney, Lee Keeler, Duane Murray, Robert Standerwick and at least 62 others paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy. They lie buried in cemeteries near and far or in oceans deep.

One of those who fell is Robert L. Green. He was born on Aug. 23, 1922, in Montana Township, Jewell County, Kansas. His parents were Will and Eva Headrick Green. He grew up, for the most part, in the Olive Hill community where he was born. His family lived for a time in Canada then in the 1940s, moved to Missouri but "home" was Olive Hill.

Green enlisted in the Army Air Corps on Feb. 10, 1941. He was, for a time, stationed at the Air Corps Base in Salina, Kansas. His cousin, the late Doris Headrick Coffman, told of seeing him while he was there. There is an item from the April 22, 1943, Superior Express which tells of Doris and her brother, the late Rex Headrick, "driving to Salina Sunday afternoon to see Robert Green."

Later, Coffman was working in Salina when Green told her to get up on a certain night and look out her apartment window. When she did, she saw planes filling the sky, engines droning, headed for combat in the European Theater. She said she was the last one to "see" Robert Green alive.

On Nov. 2, 1943, Flight Officer Robert Green was flying co-pilot on a B-17, tail number 42-30127.  His plane was one of 139 B-17s and B-24s flying from Tunisian bases to bomb the Messerschmidt factory in Wiener-Neustadt, Austria. 

That operation was the first of many to fly over the Austrian city. It is thought deliveries of Messerschmidt's were delayed by at least two months because of that first bombing mission.

But number 42-30127 was shot down, crashing near Prebuch, Austria. All 10 aboard were lost and presumed dead. Robert Green was 21 years old. One year later, his death date was established as Nov. 3, 1944.

His mother, Eva Green, when notified on Nov. 11 1944, of his death stated, "We do not feel that this is final, and still have hopes when Austria is invaded by the Allies, our son may be among those freed, either as an unreported prisoner or a fugitive."

It would seem she retained the belief he was alive and a prisoner for much if not all of her life. The family erected a monument in the Olive Hill Cemetery in his memory. There is no mention of "the rest of the story" on the monument.

The story continues as the remains of the crew were found on July 22, 1946, buried in the St. Ruprecht an der Raab cemetery in Austria. After the crash, the crew had been buried, in the local cemetery, by local citizens.

The remains were located by military researchers with the help of those local citizens. They were returned to the United State on Feb. 20, 1950. A group burial was made in Section E Lots 281,282, and 283 of Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky. Will and Eva Green were notified by telegram of these events. However, it seems the information was not revealed.

In 2016, a family researcher found the military records of the burial and began a deeper search. Initially, Hal Hoover, the nephew of Robert Green, was skeptical as his family story was very different. No living family member had any recollection nor any idea about the discovery of Green's remains in Austria nor of his ultimate burial in Kentucky.

Hoover searched through family items in Robert Green's military trunk. That search revealed the 70-year-old telegrams with the information about the recovery of the remains and the reinternment in the United States.  The truth was becoming known.

Flight Officer, Robert L. Green, Jewell Countian, gave his life for his country in Austria on Nov. 2, 1943. He is memorialized in Olive Hill Cemetery and buried in Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. Remember him and the many others, whose stories of sacrifice and death have given us freedoms we often take for granted.