2LT Robert S. Graef
2LT Robert S. Graef
Today we honor and remember 2LT Robert S. Graef of the 101st Airborne Division.
Second Lieutenant (2LT) Robert Snyder Graef of Able Company, 1st Battalion, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR), 101st Airborne Division, was born in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, to Frank E. and Alma (Snyder) Graef on August 28, 1916. Robert was their youngest child. He had two brothers, Harry E. and Thomas J., and one sister, Margaret J. Graef. His brother Thomas died in infancy due to whooping cough six months after he was born.
Robert Graef married Elizabeth Jane Schneider in Miami, Ohio, on December 14, 1938.
Robert enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Lawrence Township, Marion County, Indiana, on March 20, 1942, and was assigned to the 327th GIR. After finishing the stateside training with the 327th, he sailed to England on the H.M.S. Samaria, arriving in Liverpool on September 15, 1944. The men of the 327th GIR were housed in Camp Ranikhet, near Reading, Berkshire.
Although trained to be inserted by glider, the 327th entered Normandy through Utah Beach as part of the divisional seaborne elements on D-Day due to the lack of available aircraft. At the time, LT Robert Graef held the rank of Technical Sergeant.
On June 12, D+6, during the battles in Normandy, he earned himself a battlefield commission as he had heroically led three bayonet charges on German positions in the vicinity of Carentan during the early days of the Allied Invasion of the European continent. Before his battlefield commission came through, he was promoted to First Sergeant on June 26, 1944.
After some well-deserved rest and recuperation in England, LT Robert S. Graef was deployed in the Netherlands during the Market Garden operations. He was killed in action during a daylight reconnaissance patrol in the vicinity of Dodewaard on October 12, 1944.
Another Screaming Eagle had soared to the ultimate height. 🦅
LT Robert Graef was first buried at the temporary military cemetery of Molenhoek, Nijmegen, the Netherlands (Block G, Row 8, Grave 145) and was reburied at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial of Margraten, the Netherlands (Plot I, Row 21, Grave 12). May he rest in peace.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Piqua, Ohio, was chartered in November of 1945, and members voted to name their town’s post after Samuel Chaney from World War I and Robert Graef from World War II. In 2002, they added a Vietnam Medal of Honor winner, William Pitsenbarger for their current name, Chaney-Graef-Pitsenbarger VFW Post 4874. What a great honor and tribute this is!
Happy Birthday in Heaven, Robert.
Lest we forget! 🇺🇸
Sources
Family Search
A Rendezvous with Destiny, by Rapport & Norwood
God Speed Robert 🫡🇺🇸🫡