GAYNOR, ROBERT E. March 4, 1945 age 24 KIA Iwo Jima

ROBERT EDWARD GAYNOR  b. June 18, 1920 Kentucky d. Mar 4, 1945 

Killed in Action

Iwo Jima

Pvt 944825 Marines Co. A 1^st Bn, 26^th Mar Reg, 5^th Mar Div

23530 Sunnyside

Buried Arlington Cemetery, Virginia

Parents: George W & Edna Sarah (Gittings)
Siblings: George W, Mary Liliian, Floyd D & Lloyd C.
Spouse: Glendora Betty Thompson

The parents and Robert were born in Kentucky. They came to Michigan in the 1920’s and soon owned their home at 23530 Sunnyside. This is very close to where I grew up, just on the Detroit side of the original Redford cemetery along the Rouge River. It is the sort of street that’s out of the way where people dump things, but the house is still there is good shape.

After Robert left high school he worked as a mechanic. He married Canadian born Glendora Betty Thompson June 1, 1941 in Detroit; they lived at 15813 Deering in Livonia. He worked at Cadillac Motor Car Co. when he registered for the draft July 1, 1941. He stood 5’9”, 178 lbs with blue eyes and brown hair. It was May 1944 when he enlisted in the Marines.

Boot camp was in San Diego. Then he shipped out to the Volcano Island, home to Iwo Jima. The Battle of Iwo Jima, Operation Detachment was a major battle from Feb 19 to March 26 1945. The US fought for and captured Iwo Jima to get the two completed airfields and one incomplete. They could be brought into service for emergency landing by B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers damaged over Japan. After the heavy losses incurred in the battle the strategic value of the island became controversial.

Robert was initially buried at Kazan Retto Cemetery on Iwo Jima, the 5^th Marine Div cemetery. The US Govt returned the island to the Japanese in 1968 after the bodies of the men in the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th Division cemeteries were removed to the U.S. Robert was buried in Arlington in 1949.

(Glendora remarried 1946.)