Page 6 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

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UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE
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2ND LIEUTENANT ROBERT F. KEELER ’35
DECEMBER 5, 1942 NORTHERN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
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GEORGETOWN PREPARATORY SCHOOL
At 2:00 A. M., on December 5, 1942, Robert F. Keeler and the other bomber crews of the 90th Bomber Squadron, US Army Air Force, awoke for a night bombing of the Japanese harbor and base at Lae in Papua New Guinea. Robert served as co-pilot to 1st. Lt. Charles L. Richards. According to the 90th Squadron Diary, “The night was dark, slightly overcast, the red light at the end of the runway obscured” as the B-25 bomber idled while awaiting the signal to take off. Robert was a world away from his home in East Orange, New Jersey, and from what had been his home-away-from home for three years between 1931 and 1934 at Georgetown Prep.
During his time at Prep, Robert maintained a low social profile while maintaining very good grades and participating in the Philalethic Debating Society. He left Prep in June 1934, and completed his senior year at Philips Exeter Academy, a feeder school for the Ivy League. Robert went on to graduate from Yale University in 1940, and, according to his 1940 Draft Registration card, stood 6’1,” weighed 170 lbs., and had brown eyes, black hair, and a ruddy complexion.
Robert enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force on Nov. 4, 1941, about one month prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He earned his pilot’s wings and came to be known among his fellow airmen as “Ruby,” because he shared the same last name as Ruby Keeler, a famous actress/dancer/ singer of the day. The unusual moniker reflected the penchant of U. S. servicemen to assign a nickname to just about anyone or anything.
After training on B-24 Liberator bombers in the United States, Robert and the men of the 90th Bomber Squadron arrived in northern Queensland, Australia in late November 1942. There, they found themselves fighting back against the Japanese in the southwest Pacific during the crucial Battle of Guadalcanal and its associated naval and air engagements. The 90th quickly began bombardment missions using B-25 Mitchell bombers as well as B-24s. The planes attacked enemy airfields, troop concentrations, and shipping in New Guinea, the Bismarck archipelago, Palau, and the southern Philippines.
On October 25, Robert also found himself involved