ROBERT E. BIRKENMEIER, 1LT, USAF
Robert Birkenmeier '54
Lucky Bag
From the 1954 Lucky Bag:
Robert Edward Birkenmeier
St. Louis, Missouri
Right out of the land of Jesse James we first encountered Wild Bob. Instead of devoting his above-average mind to academics. Bob devoted a great deal of time and effort to keeping his classmates in good spirits. His career at the Academy could only be expressed in superlatives; his captaincy of Dr. Bob's Bullets football team, the leader of his company weightlifting club, and as social leader on Baltimore liberties made Bob one of the most completely available young men among our number. To say that Bob had many talents is a notable understatement, and the inevitable is that he will probably become a better officer than many of the midnight scholars.
FOOTBALL—2. CROSS COUNTRY—2. STEEPLE CHASE—2. SOFTBALL—2.
Robert Edward Birkenmeier
St. Louis, Missouri
Right out of the land of Jesse James we first encountered Wild Bob. Instead of devoting his above-average mind to academics. Bob devoted a great deal of time and effort to keeping his classmates in good spirits. His career at the Academy could only be expressed in superlatives; his captaincy of Dr. Bob's Bullets football team, the leader of his company weightlifting club, and as social leader on Baltimore liberties made Bob one of the most completely available young men among our number. To say that Bob had many talents is a notable understatement, and the inevitable is that he will probably become a better officer than many of the midnight scholars.
FOOTBALL—2. CROSS COUNTRY—2. STEEPLE CHASE—2. SOFTBALL—2.
Loss
Robert was lost when the C-124 Globemaster II transport (#52-1081) he was aboard crashed at Guam due to an in-flight fire. All nineteen aboard were killed.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
He graduated from McBride High School in 1948. As a junior at Cleveland High School, he was in the choir. Before entering the Naval Academy, he attended Northwestern Preparatory School in Minneapolis for several months.
A memorial service was held for him at the Immaculate Conception Church in St. Louis on October 10.
Survived his wife Jeanne, 3-year-old daughter Elizabeth, 1-year-old son Michael, and his mother Mrs. Robert L. (Margaret) Birkenmeier. His father, a railroad express teller, predeceased him.
He is buried in Missouri.
Photographs
From his high school yearbook
From St. Louis Globe Democrat on September 3, 1958
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