ROBERT A. FORD, JR., 1LT, USAF

Robert Ford, Jr. '53

Date of birth: October 22, 1930

Date of death: March 11, 1957

Age: 26

Lucky Bag

From the 1953 Lucky Bag:

ROBERT ABBOTT FORD, JR.

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Bob was born a rebel in Mississippi's capital city, Jackson. At the age of four he moved to Vicksburg, on the banks of the muddy Yazoo River. In his senior year in high school he was number one single on the tennis team and won the city boys doubles with Clyde Brackin. That Fall he entered Georgia Tech as a freshman and was admitted to the rebel Kappa Alpha Order. In '49 Bob entered the Naval Academy on a college certificate with a Congressional appointment. At the Academy he competed in rifle and tennis. Bob was an engineer at heart and plowed and sloshed his way through Bull and Dago. He wanted just two things ... to marry and to fly.

ROBERT ABBOTT FORD, JR.

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Bob was born a rebel in Mississippi's capital city, Jackson. At the age of four he moved to Vicksburg, on the banks of the muddy Yazoo River. In his senior year in high school he was number one single on the tennis team and won the city boys doubles with Clyde Brackin. That Fall he entered Georgia Tech as a freshman and was admitted to the rebel Kappa Alpha Order. In '49 Bob entered the Naval Academy on a college certificate with a Congressional appointment. At the Academy he competed in rifle and tennis. Bob was an engineer at heart and plowed and sloshed his way through Bull and Dago. He wanted just two things ... to marry and to fly.

Loss

From the Bob Ford Memorial:

Bob Ford – Christian husband, father, son, brother – went to Korea as an officer and pilot in the United States Air Force to protect our freedom, to protect our nation, to protect our children’s future. On March 11, 1957, he lost his life when his F86F jet fighter-bomber plane crashed.

The site linked above has many pictures and remembrances of Bob. He was married to Elizabeth "Libby", who did not remarry and passed away in 2009. They are buried together in Arlington National Cemetery.

He was also survived by two children. He had "been selected to take aeronautical engineering postgraduate work at the University of Illinois." (Information from May 1957 issue of Shipmate.)

He was a member of the 311th Fighter Squadron.

Bob and Libby's first date, June Week 1950.

Class of 1953

Robert is one of 62 members of the Class of 1953 on Virtual Memorial Hall.