Staff Sergeant (SSGT) Robert William Fischer, United States Army: Service Number: 16050667

Staff Sergeant (SSGT) Robert William Fischer was born on 18 May 1921 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

His father, William Fischer (1898-1965) was born in Wisconsin and in 1940 worked as a real estate salesman. His mother Adeline (maiden name unknown) (1900-1984) was born in Kansas. Robert had two siblings; an older brother and a younger sister.

Military

On 16 February 1942, Robert registered for the Draft at Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. At that time he worked for the Falk Corporation in Milwaukee. He was ultimately assigned to the HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division

The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) was activated on July 20, 1942 at Fort Benning, GA. Lieutenant Colonel George V Millett Jr. was given the command. After jump-training at Fort Benning the regiment deployed to the Army air base at Alliance, Nebraska and became part of the 1st Airborne Brigade. After arriving in North Ireland in December, 1943, the 507th was attached to the 82nd Airborne along with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Still under the command of Colonel George V. Millett Jr, the 507th moved to Nottingham, England in March, 1944 to prepare for the Allied invasion of Europe.

D-Day - Operation Neptune

The 507th PIR first saw combat during the Normandy invasion - 6 June 1944. The 507th and the 508th PIRs were to be dropped near the west bank of the Merderet River. The objective for both regiments was to establish defensive positions in those areas and prepare to attack westward sealing off the Cotentin Peninsula.

In the predawn hours of D-Day the sporadic jump patterns of the 507th and 508th PIRs left troopers Lt Colonel Charles J Timmes spread out over a twenty mile area. Some who overshot the Drop Zone (DZ) dropped into the Merderet River and its adjoining marshes. Many troopers who jumped with heavy equipment were unable to swim free and drowned. Others roamed the countryside until they encountered other units and joined their effort. Even Colonel Millett, the commanding officer of the 507th was unable to muster his troops and was captured three days after the drop in the vicinity of Amfreville. Only the 2nd Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles J Timmes was able to function as a team and began digging in around Cauquigny on the west bank of the Merderet River.

Upon verification of Colonel Millett's capture, General Ridgway transferred the command of the 507th to Colonel Edson Raff, a veteran of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion during Operation Torch. Colonel Raff received this command after fighting his way through to General Ridgway at Les Forges. Colonel Raff would lead the 507th, "Raff's Ruffians" as they would become known, until the end of World War II.

Throughout the confusion the indomitable spirit of the paratroopers in the days and weeks following D-Day enabled the 82nd Airborne to seize La Fiere bridge and push westward to cut off the Cotentin Peninsula. After 33 days of continuous combat the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions returned to England aboard LSTs.

Death

On 6 June 1944, SSGT Fischer was Killed in Action as part of the D-Day invasion. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal. He is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota, Plot Section C-25, Site 14301.

Sources:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/649867/robert-w-fischer

https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=547706

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/M-T0627-04559-00059?usePUB=true&_phsrc=5ru1821450&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=82173028

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/507th_Parachute_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

https://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/507/507.html

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