Robert Carlton Lane
Private Robert Carlton Lane of Collingswood, NJ.
Rank: Private, U.S. Army
Serial Number: 32264576
Unit: 34th Infantry Division
Hometown: Collingswood, New Jersey
Killed in Action: , Tunisia, North Africa
Buried: Harleigh Cemetery, Haddon Avenue, Camden, New Jersey
Awards: Purple Heart
Private Robert C. Lane was born in Camden, NJ on January 23, 1919. The Lane family then lived at 438 South 5th Street in Camden. His parents divorced around 1929. In 1930 he was living with his father, Wilmer Russell Lane, and two brothers at the home of his grandparents, Albion R. Lane and Nevada S. French Lane, at 101 Ardmore Avenue, Collingswood, NJ. His father ran a butter and egg business that the grandfather had founded. Russell Lane re-married, and the family business was still operating into the war years. By the time Robert Lane entered the service, his parents were living at 100 E. Wayne Terrace in Collingswood, NJ. He was a 1938 graduate of Collingswood High School. In his yearbook he stated that his likes were “Football, femmes, and swing music” and his dislikes were “Matinee idols and studies.”
After high school Robert Lane found work at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard in Camden, NJ, riding a bus to work each day with classmate John McLaughlin.
Robert Lane entered the army at Fort Dix, NJ on April 6, 1942. He was sent to Sea Girt, NJ the next day, Fort Monmouth, NJ on April 20, and to Fort Indiantown Gap, PA on July 3, 1942. He shipped out to England on July 29, 1942.
Private Lane took part in the invasion of North Africa, landing near Casablanca on November 8, 1942. He was killed in action on April 30, 1943 in fighting near Hill 609 in Tunisia. He was survived by his father, stepmother Mrs. Lillian Lane, and two brothers, Albion R. and Milton V. Lane, a step-brother, and an uncle, Forrest Lane.
Robert Lane was brought home in the spring of 1948. On June 23, 1948 he was buried at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, NJ.
Robert Lane’s great-grandfather, Charles M. Lane, and two great-great-uncles, Barton Lane and James M. Lane, served with the Camden Fire Department at different times during the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s.
Photos
Left: Robert C. Lane in the 1938 Collingswood High School yearbook. Center: Private Lane alongside his father. Right: Robert C. Lane.
Fighting Over There, Striking Over Here
Camden Courier-Post —
“I’m not angry if it’s the 29th of April or not, but I know that yesterday was Easter and we had church services while the guns roared.”
“Gee how I hate to read about the people going on strike in the U.S.A… if they knew the sacrifices the boys have made they wouldn’t do such things.”
“You know Mom, I’ve been trying to save those good socks you sent me, hoping I might wear them when I get back… but I’m afraid I’ll have to say goodbye because the big guns are roaring again and we are going into action…”
Remember when Bob Lane, of Collingswood, wrote from North Africa? Twelve hours after he wrote that letter he was dead. Killed in “action.”
He won’t get home to wear those good socks his Mom sent him. He won’t know about the latest mine crisis. He won’t write home again.
The Courier-Post receives a great many letters from men and women in the armed forces. Parents have shown us letters, too, from their sons and daughters. Through 99 percent of those letters runs just one complaint:
Not about what is happening to the writers, but protest against the strikes which sabotage the war on the home front.
John L. Lewis has said that he doesn’t give a damn for public opinions. No doubt that he doesn’t give a damn, either, for the opinion of war servicemen. But this constant threat of a mine strike, with consequent stoppage of war production, has hung over the nation’s head like a sword of Damocles. And it doesn’t take a fortune teller to predict how the boys and girls are going to feel when they come home from Guadalcanal, Attu, North Africa, and countless other fronts.
They’re going to remember the Bob Lanes who died in action (salary $50 per month) while here at home John L. Lewis was leading his miners to defiance of their government, to obstruction of the war programs — because they were impatient with government arbitration of a wage dispute.
Mother Carries On for Dead Stepson
Camden Courier-Post —
With 3 Other Boys in Service, She Drives Husband’s Truck
Mrs. W. R. Lane, of 100 Wayne terrace, Collingswood, with three stepsons and her own son in the Army, “carried on” yesterday. Despite word that one of the three stepsons, Robert C. Lane, 24, was killed in action in North Africa, Mrs. Lane with a heavy heart remained at the wheel of her husband’s butter and egg truck because help cannot be obtained to replace the Lane boys taken from the family business by Uncle Sam. The news was grief also to the mother of Robert, Mrs. Lillian Lane, of 310 South Fifth street, Camden, and to his brothers, Albion, 26, in the Air Corps Headquarters, and Milton D., 21, a bombardier at an airfield in Idaho. His step-brother, John Chavar, 27, son of Mrs. W. R. Lane, is a radio operator in the Air Corps at Scott Field, Ill.
“We can’t get help to drive the trucks and today as badly as I feel I have got to go out and drive a truck,” said Mrs. Lane. “I don’t mind that, but today I would like to stay home. I am wondering how he died. If he died quickly or if he suffered, and what kind of a place he is buried in.”
Mrs. Lane said that a few days ago she received a letter from him in which he said that he was seeing heavy action. He revealed in the letter that the soldiers were living in holes in the ground, and “having a tough time to get something to eat.” Just before he began to write the letter home, he said, he found a can of Italian steak. “And I know it was horse meat, but it tasted good,” he wrote. “It’s tough here fighting in these holes with the bodies of the enemy buried in very shallow graves only a few feet away. I wish I was home.”
“It’s hard to raise boys and just when they reach the age when you think they are going to be some help to you, they are called away to the colors,” said Mrs. Lane. “Mr. Lane and I have been hoping that these boys would be a help to us in our business. Some of the boys worked with their father driving butter and egg trucks.”
Lane, 24, was a graduate of the Collingswood High school, class of 1937, and worked at the New York Shipyard as a burner when he was drafted in the contingent which left Collingswood in April, 1942. He was sent to Fort Dix, then to Sea Girt, next to Fort Monmouth, and then to Indiantown Gap, Pa. He sailed for Africa July 29 last year, four months after he was inducted. He was in the Army Signal Corps. He was engaged to Miss Betty Wright, of 61 Center street, Haddonfield.
Letter from Dead War Hero Deplores Chiseling in U.S.
Camden Courier-Post —
“We’re Suffering and Dying Over Here,” Says Missive Received After Collingswood Soldier Is Reported Killed
From a Collingswood boy’s grave somewhere in North Africa yesterday came a message deploring gasoline and food chiselers and slickers at home.
“You know Mom, I’ve been thinking about all those packages you sent me. I am hoping that in the near future I can give them to people who need them far more than I do. I hope it’s soon. I’ve got my brother Bill in the [Air Corps] is doing so good; I wish I was. He could have gone to college. I know it from the writing. I am afraid I’ll have to say goodbye because the big guns are roaring again and we are going into action… I want you to say hello to everybody I know. I hope they will be well. I have a couple of beers for me. Bob.”
Editor’s Note: Shortly after writing this last letter, Pvt. Lane was reported missing in action, and killed in action and buried in a foreign land. He was 24 years old.
Downs Plane In Memory of Slain Brother
Camden Courier-Post —
Sergeant Tells Parents in Collingswood of Making Nazis Pay
“Well Mom and Dad, I have helped pay back for what they did to Bob. I know it will take a lot more, but every little bit counts. We have been flying a lot lately…”
So Sgt. Milton V. Lane wrote on September 27 from a bomber base in England to his father and stepmother, Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer B. Lane, of 100 East Wayne terrace, Collingswood. And last night the United Press wires carried more testimony that Sergeant Lane, 21-year-old radio operator of the Flying Fortress, “Ohio Air Force,” was exacting added vengeance for his brother, Pvt. Robert C. Lane, who died from wounds in the North African campaign. The “Ohio Air Force,” after an hour and a half battle with Nazi fighters returned from the recent raid on Munster, Germany, with all crew members uninjured and with a record bag of 12 German planes shot down. One of the Nazis was credited to Lane.
“We were afraid we had lost another boy,” said Mr. and Mrs. Lane when first told of the press report. “I pray he comes home safe,” the stepmother added. “We are so proud of him.”
News of Sgt. Lane’s latest exploit also was heard with pride by his mother, Mrs. Lillian Lane, of 310 South Fifth street, where hangs a service emblem with a gold star and two blue ones. A third son, Albion, 26, is in the Army at Fort Dix. Mrs. Lillian Lane displayed a V letter from Milton, dated Sept. 7 and announcing his arrival in England. “Keep ‘em flying Mom,” he closed.
The Lanes were divorced 14 years ago, and the boys raised by their stepmother, who has a son, John Chaver, 27, a radio operator in the Air Force at Scott Field, Ill. The press dispatch said the “Ohio Air Force,” piloted by Lt. John Richey, Steubenville, O., was attacked by swarms of Nazi planes, including four engined Dornier 2-17 bombers which fired cannon shells and rockets. Once during the violent action, the heavy Fortress rolled over on its back, losing much loose material. Leading the score was Lt. Robert E. Winnerman, a bombardier, who knocked down three planes. Two victims each fell to Sgt. Jack T. Gesser, Bellevue, Ky., the tailgunner, and Sgt. Thomas Hair, Jr., Anderson, S. C., a waistgunner.
One plane each was credited to Lt. Frank H. McKibben, Los Angeles, the navigator; Sgt. Lane; Sgt. Maurice B. Simpson, Cameron, Miss., a waistgunner; Sgt. Charles E. Schaeffer, Ashford, Wa., ballturret gunner; and Sgt. Michael J. Siwek, Hamtramck, Mich., top turret gunner. Copilot of the plane was Lt. Thomas A. Helman, Medford, Ore.
Sergeant Lane was inducted into the Army last Oct. 16. He was a graduate of Collingswood High school. Soon after arrival in England he wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Lane: “The news has just come about Italy’s surrendering and the boys are raising hell. Bob would have been a happy boy tonight had he lived to hear that, but that was the way it was meant to be. I am going into town tonight. The news calls for a celebration.”
“The bombers have been roaring over all day. I guess they are giving the boys in Germany something to think about. I have about a week of school left, and then I hope I get in on some of those raids. Every bomb dropped from our own plane helps pay for Bob.”
Pvt. Robert C. Lane
Camden Courier-Post —
Private services for Pvt. Robert C. Lane, Collingswood High school graduate killed in action in North Africa, April 30, 1943, were held yesterday in Harleigh cemetery. Surviving are his father, W. R. Lane, Clementon; his mother, Mrs. Lillian M. Lane, Camden, and two brothers, Milton, Collingswood, and Albion R., of Oaklyn.
Remembered
Robert C. Lane is remembered by Joseph C. Hall, John McLaughlin, and other members of the Collingswood High School Class of 1938.