MAJ Robert A. Lane
S-2, Intelligence, Combat Command B, 2nd Armored Div.
Killed in Action 23 August, 1944,
Conche, France (Normandy)
In December, 1940, Lt. Bob Lane, a graduate of Ohio State University, left Frederick,
Maryland for active duty at Ft. Benning, Georgia. He was with the Second Armored Division,
from its inception, competing in tank maneuvers in Louisiana, Tennessee, and the Carolinas,
under the fiery directives of George S. Patton.
November, 1942, Robert said good-by to his family, and sailed with the Second Armor in a
huge convoy, for the invasion of North Africa. From Rabat, Morocco, he went to Sicily where
the vigorous training proved essential. General Patton's Division blitzed through Sicily.
November, 1943, the Division sailed west out of the Mediterranean. Men were hopeful they were
going home for Thanksgiving. Instead, they disembarked in Great Britain. Housed at Tidworth
Barracks, England, they prepared for the invasion of the Continent. Major Lane sent hand-drawn
birthday cards from Africa, Sicily, and England, but not from Germany.
A nebelwerfer, screaming rocket, struck him on Wednesday August 23, 1944, just outside the
medieval town of Conche, France. The telegram of his death arrived in place of a Tenth Wedding
Anniversary card. Born in Marietta, Ohio in 1913, the young father who loved to ski, canoe,
garden, dance, and who loved his family, was laid to rest in the American Normandy Cemetery.
-- Sandra Lane Walker --
