Robert Doyle Crumpton
Robert Doyle Crumpton, Jr. was born in 1921 (or possibly as early as 1920) in Ennis, Ellis County, Texas to Robert Doyle Crumpton, Sr. and Stella M. Brown Crumpton.
[Update June 6, 2021: Robert Doyle Crumpton’s birthdate was 26 July 1920.]
[Update October 16, 2021: Robert Doyle Crumpton’s birthdate was 27 July 1920 according to his birth certificate.]
Robert Doyle Crumpton, Sr. was born April 7, 1892. In 1917, he registered for the WWI draft. He enlisted on May 26, 1918. He was a private in the 26th Company, 7th Bn., 165th Depot Brigade, Btry C, 126 F.A. (SN 1 416 038). He was discharged on January 22, 1919.
In 1920, Robert Sr. (26 years old) and Stella (23 years old) lived with Stella’s parents, William and Minnie Bachoffer Brown in Ennis, Texas. Stella’s father, William, was a conductor. At the time, Robert Sr. worked as a mail carrier.
Robert Sr. died on April 24, 1921 and is buried in Myrtle Cemetery in Ennis. Without an exact birth date for Robert Jr., it is unclear whether he was born before or after his father died. A cause of death for his father is also unknown.
After Robert Sr.’s death, Stella married Claude Parks. Stella and Claude had a son, Claude Edward Parks, born August 6, 1930, Robert Jr.’s half-brother.
The 1930 census shows Robert Jr. listed as Robert Parks. After graduation from Ennis High School, he worked as an automobile serviceman for a time.
The 1940 census shows him listed as Robert Crumpton. He was a farm laborer in 1940, an unpaid family worker. The family lived in Ennis in the 1930’s and 1940’s, where Robert Jr. was born and raised.
On May 2, 1941, Robert Doyle Crumpton, Jr. enlisted in the Army Air Forces in WWII at Fort MacArthur, San Pedro, California. He trained in Oklahoma, Arizona, Nebraska, California, and Illinois.
Robert served in WWII as the top turret gunner/engineer for the James Joseph Brodie crew of the 545th Bomb Squad of the 384th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force in Grafton Underwood, England.
On his nineteenth mission on September 28, 1944, he was killed when the B-17 he was in collided with another B-17 after coming off the target at Magdeburg, Germany. He probably saw the near miss with the Gross crew right above his head from his viewpoint in the top turret (see Wallace Storey’s account of the near-miss), and probably saw the collision with the Buslee crew’s B-17 coming, but was helpless to do anything about it.
S/Sgt Robert D. Crumpton earned the Purple Heart and Air Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters. He was buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery Margraten, Netherlands, Block Plot R, Row 9, Grave 210 before being moved to his final resting place in Plot E, Row 19, Grave 22 of the American War Cemetery at Margraten.
Next week: An exhibit featuring the life and military career of Robert Doyle Crumpton at the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial in Canton, Texas.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2015
The Arrowhead Club 