 yearbook |
Remember...Robert Morgan Gregg
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Robert Morgan Gregg was born on December 2, 1920, to Layman Boyd Gregg and Lena Morgan Gregg in Sistersville, Tyler County, West Virginia.
A decade later, the 1930 Federal Census taker recorded that the family lived in Clarksburg. Mr. Gregg's occupation was listed as "none." In 1940, the family still lived in Clarksburg, and Mr. Gregg was working for a gas company as a machinist. Robert Gregg was with the family. A lodger, who also worked for the gas company, lived with them.
| Robert Gregg went to college at West Virginia Wesleyan, where he was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity. He is shown in the 1939 Murmurmontis, the West Virginia Wesleyan yearbook, among the college's freshmen class and as a member of the Lens Club which "was founded in order to increase the quantity of and better the quality of pictures taken at Wesleyan." |  The Lens Club at West Virginia Wesleyan College, pictured in the 1939 yearbook. Robert Gregg is standing, far right. |
Research proved neither whether Robert Gregg graduated nor his major, but it is likely that World War II intervened before he could finish his degree: his projected graduation date would have been 1942. Subsequently, his name appears on muster rolls of the U.S. Navy. Robert Gregg enlisted on August 16, 1941, in Washington, D.C., where he reported to the Anacostia Naval Reserve Air Base for elimination flight training. Apparently, he was successful, because he reported to a U.S. Naval Reserve Air Base in New Orleans on December 24, 1941. From there, he was moved to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, on January 21, 1942. His enlistment was terminated when he was accepted as an aviation cadet, according to notes on the muster roll that ended the quarter.
Research did not prove that Robert Gregg became a pilot, but it seems likely that he became a pilot or member of a flight crew. At the time of his death, his rank was Lieutenant (Junior Grade). On October 5 and 6, 1943, the Navy conducted a raid against Wake Island with a U.S. Navy carrier task force that included the USS Lexington (CV-16). The Lexington was an Essex-class aircraft carrier; a death notice in the October 15, 1943, Buckhannon Record mentions that Robert M. Gregg was "a member of an aircraft carrier crew."
The story of the raid on Wake Island is closely tied to the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. According to an article in the Britannica Online Encyclopedia,
The Japanese first struck Wake Island at noon (local time) on December 8, 1941, with a wave of tactical bombers launched from the Marshall Islands. Wake was bombed on an almost daily basis for the next two weeks. On December 11, the Japanese suffered a rude repulse from the marines' light coastal-defense guns and the four remaining fighters. Two Japanese destroyers were sunk, several other ships sustained damage, and the transports were withdrawn. That small engagement, the first tactical defeat experienced by the Japanese navy in World War II, electrified the American people, dispelling much of the gloom caused by Pearl Harbor.Humiliated by that setback, the Japanese navy continued to bomb Wake Island and eventually sent a much larger task force to take the atoll. After hours of desperate, close infantry combat, the Japanese finally forced Wake's defenders to surrender. Although the fight for Wake ended in a U.S. defeat, the American people continued to view the atoll as a rallying point. (Gregory J. W. Irwin, "Battle of Wake Island," Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 December 2020, accessed 26 May 2021, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Wake-Island.)
The article continues:
Wake Island spent the rest of World War II in Japanese hands. [The U.S. military continued periodic naval bombardments and air raids.] The Japanese garrison commander, Capt. Sakaibara Shirgematsu, interpreted one such attack, in October 1943, as an invasion attempt, prompting him to order the execution of the remaining civilians on the island.
The Lexington had arrived at Pearl Harbor on August 9, 1943, and participated in a raid on Tarawa air bases in late September, which was followed by the raid against Wake Island on October 5. While the Wake Island raid was unsuccessful for the U.S., the Lexington returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for the Gilbert Islands operation.
A record of Robert Gregg's assignments after his transfer to Pensacola was not found; however, because he died near Wake Island and his body was not recoverable, it seems likely that he was a pilot or member of a flight crew that participated in the raid and their plane was downed on the second day.
 Headstone (cenotaph) in Bridgeport Cemetery. Courtesy Cynthia Mullens |
According to Navy records and a cenotaph installed in his memory, located in Bridgeport Cemetery in Harrison County, he died October 6, 1943, lost near Wake Island. His body was unrecoverable. The Buckhannon Record, on October 15, 1943, reported that the Navy had notified Robert Gregg's parents that he'd been missing since October 6. At that time, Lt. Gregg was reported missing at sea. He is memorialized in the Bridgeport Cemetery, the Courts of the Missing in the Honolulu Cemetery (National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific), and the West Virginia National Cemetery. He was awarded both a Purple Heart and an Air Medal. |  Military marker for Lt. (j.g.) Robert M. Gregg in West Virginia National Cemetery. Courtesy Cynthia Mullens |
Article prepared by Cynthia Mullens
May 2021
