Sgt Robert Elder Biography

Sergeant Robert Paul Elder

World War II

US Marine Corps
Unit
Service Number:
Born: May 22, 1921 at Platner
Inducted: January 20, 1940
Killed in Action February 18, 1944, Marshall Islands
Buried: Ft. McPherson National Cemetery, Nebraska
Section F, Site 1182

Son of Paul and Olaf Grace Hayes Elder of Otis.

Fort McPherson NC
Photo by Ft. McPherson NC staff.

Thursday March 23, 1944 The Akron News-Reporter

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Elder received word Friday, March 17 that their son, Robert, had been killed in action with the United States Marines in the South Pacific war theater.

Robert was the oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Elder and was born in Platner, May 23, 1921. He enlisted in the marine corps four years ago and had been advanced to the rating of sergeant.

Thursday May 4, 1944 The Otis Independent

Memorial services will be held at the Otis High School Gymnasium Sunday afternoon, May 7, for Sergeant Robert Paul Elder, of the U. S Marine Corps, who was killed in the Marshall Islands on February 18. Sergeant Elder was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Elder of southwest of Otis.

Robert Paul Elder was born May 22, 1921, in Platner, Colorado, and departed this life February 18, 1944, at the age of 22 years and 9 months. He attended grade school at Pleasant and one year of high school at Platner. He spent one year in Kansas City and one year in California. Then he enrolled in the CCC and was stationed in Yosemite National Park. After coming back to Colorado, he enrolled in the CCC at Sterling and was stationed in Estes Park. Before that term of enlistment was finished, he joined the Marines, January 20, 1940. He went overseas in March 1941 and was in Samoa and nearby islands for two years. He spent six months in the states and went overseas again last November. He was killed in action in the Marshall Islands.

He always had a longing to travel and to be a friend to everyone he met. He confessed his faith in Christ at the Baptist Fellowship Center in San Diego, August 10, 1943.

He leaves to mourn his passing, his parents, Paul and Olaf Elder, his brothers, Richard, Donald and Alan, and his sister, Rose, also grandmother, aunts, uncles and other relatives. Memorial services held at the Presbyterian Church April 23, 1944.

Notes:

Robert Elder photograph from The War Years and The People of Washington County, Francis and Billie Jessie, published 1993, by Curtis Media.
Interment at Ft. Mcpherson was 24 May 1949.