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Early Life and Family

Robert Patrick Mulreaney, Jr. was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania on February 7, 1916. He was the eldest son of Robert Patrick Mulreaney, Sr. (a conductor and later yardmaster for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, 1877–1956) and Mary Bridget Mulreaney (née Shovlin, 1890–1982). Based on census records and lists of survivors in obituaries, it appears that he had six younger brothers and three younger sisters. Two of his brothers died as young children.

During Robert’s youth, his family moved several times, but remained in Hazleton. The Mulreaney family was recorded on the census on January 12, 1920 living at 260 Poplar Street and at 94 Pine Street on April 17, 1930.

A July 12, 1948 article in The Plain Speaker (Hazleton, Pennsylvania) stated that Robert and his brother John “were graduated from St. Gabriel’s High School, where they starred in football and basketball. They belonged to St. Gabriel’s church, the parish Holy Name Society and the Knights of Columbus.”

The Mulreaney family was living at 163 South Wyoming Street as of April 13, 1940. By that time, the younger Robert had graduated from high school and was working as a brakeman for the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

When he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, Robert was described as standing 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing 154 lbs., with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Military Career

During World War II, Robert and his brothers John and Eugene served with the U.S. Army in the Mediterranean Theater, while Henry served in the Pacific with the U.S. Marine Corps.

After he was drafted, Robert joined the U.S. Army at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland on February 12, 1942. The July 12, 1948 article in The Plain Speaker stated that he “trained at Fort Belvoir, Va.; Pass Christian, Texas, and Fort Dix, N. J., before going to England in June, 1942.”

Robert Mulreaney most likely went overseas with the 815th Engineer Aviation Battalion of the U.S. Army Air Forces on June 3, 1942 or was transferred into the unit soon after. According to a summary of the unit’s history in Captain Shelby L. Stanton’s book World War II Order of Battle, the battalion went overseas from the New York Port of Embarkation on June 3, 1942, arriving in England on June 9, 1942. The unit arrived in North Africa on November 8, 1942, landed on Sicily on August 10, 1943, and in Italy on September 28, 1943. A memorial plaque for the 815th Engineer Aviation Battalion displayed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force stated that the men were the “FIRST AMERICAN AVIATION ENGINEERS IN ENGLAND” and that they “RECONSTRUCTED AIRFIELDS AND BUILT LANDING STRIPS DURING WORLD WAR II IN THE MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS”. Members of the unit present during the Algeria-French Morocco and Sicily amphibious operations earned arrowhead devices for their European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medals. The unit history is consistent with the July 12, 1948 article in The Plain Speaker which stated that Robert “took part in the North African, Sicilian and Italian campaigns.”

On November 25, 1943, a tragedy struck the family. Robert’s younger brother, Staff Sergeant John M. Mulreaney (1918–1943), a soldier in Service Company, 756th Tank Battalion, was killed by a land mine in Italy.

Disaster at Anzio

Allied forces had begun landing at Anzio on January 22, 1944. Though intended to bypass German defensive lines to the south, the enemy quickly moved to contain the Allied invasion force.Sometime during the first weeks of the operation, Robert and his younger brother Eugene arrived at the Anzio beachhead. If he wasn’t already, by the time of Anzio, Robert was a member of Company “A,” 815th Engineer Aviation Battalion. It's unclear whether Eugene was in the same battalion or another unit. Eugene had been drafted about a year after Robert, entering the U.S. Army on March 2, 1943 and going overseas on August 21, 1943.

German aircraft and artillery constantly pounded not only the front lines at the Anzio beachhead, but also the rear echelon areas. On February 4 or 5, 1944, Eugene was caught in the open during an artillery bombardment. Eugene’s son stated: “He told me that the last thing he recalled was running on the beach looking for cover. He saw a large truck and wanted to seek cover under the truck and then he remembered a huge white flash.” Eugene regained consciousness at the 95th Evacuation Hospital. In addition to his head injury, the exploding artillery shell had badly injured his foot.

On February 7, 1944, Robert’s birthday, he obtained permission from his commanding officer to visit Eugene in the hospital. In their book And If I Perish: Frontline U.S. Army Nurses in World War II, Evelyn M. Monahan and Rosemary Neidel-Greenlee wrote what happened next:

“A group of German fighter-bombers had made a raid on the harbor and airfield that afternoon. […] According to eyewitnesses among hospital personnel who were watching from the ground, a British Spitfire pursued a single German fighter-bomber over the hospital area. In an effort to gain altitude and speed, the German pilot jettisoned his remaining load of five antipersonnel bombs.”

Against sturdy structures, tanks, or bunkers, the antipersonnel bombs would have done little if any damage. Unfortunately, the 95th Evacuation Hospital was housed in tents which provided no protection from the blizzard of bomb fragments which followed. That the attack had been an accident was of little comfort.

28 men and women were killed in the bombing: 22 members of the hospital staff, four patients, and two visitors. Robert dove across Eugene’s hospital bed as the bombs rained down on the 95th Evac, shielding his younger brother with his own body. Robert was struck by bomb fragments in his back, buttock, and hip and killed.

Aftermath and Recognition

Eugene (1924–2009) escaped further physical injury thanks to his brother’s sacrifice. He arrived back in the United States on May 7, 1944 and was discharged from the U.S. Army at Valley Forge General Hospital on June 2, 1945. He married Virginia May Nussbaum on December 13, 1946. The couple raised three daughters and a son.

Despite his recovery from his physical wounds, the psychological toll on Eugene was immense. His son, Robert P. Mulreaney III, recalled that Eugene suffered nightmares about the bombing for the rest of his life. Eugene’s son was a teenager before his father told him how his namesake died. Only after drinking a few beers was Eugene able to tell of that horrible moment after the explosion when he saw his brother’s eyes wide open and believed that he was alive, only to realize that he was not.

After the war, Private Mulreaney’s body was returned to the United States and buried at St. Gabriel’s Cemetery in Hazleton on July 26, 1948.

Private Robert P. Mulreaney, Jr.’s sacrifice moved the survivors of the 95th Evacuation Hospital and many others in the years that followed. 50 years after Mulreaney’s death, in a speech delivered at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, Italy on June 3, 1994, President Bill Clinton delivered remarks which stated in part:

“The late General Ernest Harmon, Commander of the 1st Armored Division, put it well when he said, `All of us were in the same boat. We were there to stay or die. I have never seen anything like it in the two world wars of my experience, a confidence in unity, an unselfish willingness to help one another.’ That spirit is known as brotherhood, and that is why the statue behind us is called ‘Brothers in Arms.’

“Our duty is to preserve the memory of that spirit, memories like that of Private Robert Mulreany. [sic] On February 7, 1944, his brother, Private Eugene Mulreany, lay wounded in the field hospital. Robert was visiting when they heard the sound of planes overhead. As the bombs fell, Robert threw his body on top of his wounded brother. He saved his brother's life, even as he gave his own.”

In his later years, Bernard Mulreaney (1932–2006), Robert’s youngest brother, pushed for Robert to be decorated for his sacrifice. In a July 18, 2005 ceremony, Robert was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his actions of February 7, 1944. Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Nicholson presented the medal to Eugene.

Notes

Most records give Robert Mulreaney, Jr.’s date of birth as February 7, 1916 and I believe that is accurate. Indeed, the census recorded him as being three years, 11 months of age as of January 12, 1920. His burial card gave his date of birth as February 7, 1917; his headstone application had that same date but was corrected to 1916.

The reason I am not certain of the number of brothers is that Mary Mulraney’s obituary listed seven sons, of whom four predeceased her: Robert, John, Daniel, and Edward. I have not been able to account for Edward in census records. Eugene A. Mulreaney’s obituary also indicated a total of seven sons, but instead of Edward, there was a brother named Joseph that I wasn’t able to account for. However, there was a death certificate for a Baby Mulreaney who survived only 1½ hours after birth on August 27, 1929.

For some reason, the occupations were digitized differently in the enlistment card data on Fold3 (“Semiskilled occupations in fabrication of textile products”) from the National Archives and Ancestry.com websites (“Unskilled transportation occupations”). Given that his employer was listed as the Lehigh Valley Railroad on his draft card, I consider the latter source most likely correct. Fold3 also gave his education level as one year of high school as opposed to four years of high school with N.A.R.A./Ancestry; that he was a high school graduate is also supported by the 1940 census and the July 12, 1948 article in The Plain Speaker.

John Mulreaney’s records indicate that served under the last name Mulraney.

According to an application for WWII compensation filled out by his parents in January 1950, Robert went overseas on June 3, 1943. It seemed like a remarkable coincidence that Mulreaney went overseas exactly one year to the day that his unit did. I suspect that they meant to write June 3, 1942. Indeed, his burial card stated he served 20 months overseas prior to his death, and the July 12, 1948 article in The Plain Speaker stated that he went “to England in June, 1942.”

Robert P. Mulreaney, Jr.’s Bronze Star Medal citation gave his grade as private 1st class. All World War II era accounts that I have discovered so far (casualty list, newspaper articles, and an excerpt from a report of the bombing of the 95th Evacuation hospital) gave his grade as private. For that reason, I have used that grade in the article, though I am unable to explain the discrepancy.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Private Robert P. Mulreaney, Jr.’s nephew, Robert P. Mulreaney III for contributing information as well as several of the photos used in this article. Thanks also to the Standard-Speaker for permission to use photos originally published in its predecessor, The Plain Speaker.

Additional profiles by the author can be viewed here.

Bibliography

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Article last updated on February 4, 2021