Page 7 - Gold Star Sons of Georgetown Prep

2ND LIEUTENANT ROBERT F. KEELER ’35
CONTINUED
COURTESY, “OPERATION LILIPY,” HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/OPERATION_LILLIPUT
in a madcap adventure occasioned by the desire of the commanding officer of the 90th Squadron to carry out a solo attack against the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul on the island of New Britain. The commander chose Robert as his co-pilot and had an extra set of external wing tanks installed on his B-25 to provide extra range. Engine trouble, however, forced a return to Port Moresby.
The pace of the air war remained intense during the final months of 1942, and that is what brought Keeler and the other members of the 90th to the air strip at 2:00 A.M on the morning of December 5, 1942. Besides Keeler and the captain, the rest of the crew included the bombardier, radio/ gunner, and turret gunner. The squadron diary continued: “On takeoff, Lt. Richards hit a tree 300 yards from the end
of the runway, tore off a wing, and careened to the ground. It immediately blew up, four 100-pounders going off . . . the rest of the flight took off through the burning embers . . . By Buna [in Papua New Guinea], severe thunderstorms, poor visibility, and the hopelessness of the mission in the first place, brought about the short message to all ships [planes] to turn back.”
Robert Keeler was the first Prep alumnus to die in World War II. His death illustrated a stark reality of that war – the
Map of Australia,
New Guinea, and the neighboring area. Robert Keeler was flying missions from the Cape York Peninsula of the Australian state of Queensland.
B-25s on an airfield in Queensland, Australia.
inherent danger involved in “normal” military operations such as take-offs. During the war, 52,173 airmen died in combat. Another 25,854, however, were killed in accidents, about half of those overseas. The impact of adverse weather conditions, fatigue (both emotional and physical), and mechanical failure could be devastating, and they exacted a great toll among airmen. Because the crash that took Keeler’s life was part of a planned bombing run, Keeler was listed as killed in action. He is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of The Pacific, in Honolulu, Hawaii. H
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