3Nov1919 – 9Nov1943
Edison Days
Robert graduated with the Class of June 1935. He was only 16 years old!
Military Service
Rate: Midshipman
Branch: United States Navy
Robert was enrolled in the United States Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School located at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Records indicate that he was 1 of 1,304 men who started with Class 16 on 1Sept1943.
Midshipmen’s School (also known as the V-7 program) was an accelerated officer-training initiative started in 1940 to rapidly commission reserve officers (“90-day wonders”) for the expanding Navy fleet. It targeted college-educated men. Trainees underwent intensive instruction in navigation, gunnery, engineering, seamanship, and related topics, typically lasting about 3–4 months, before commissioning as ensigns in the Naval Reserve.
Practical training sometimes included hands-on work on vessels on Lake Michigan.
This was distinct from the regular US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland but served a similar purpose in a wartime accelerated format. The Chicago program helped produce thousands of officers quickly.
Robert died on 9November1943 of complications from abdominal surgery.
Robert is buried at Hillside Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Edison Heroes 