Robert C. Redding
Staff Sergeant Robert C. Redding, Serial: 32360625, 568th Bomber Squadron, 390th Bomber Group, U.S. Army Air Forces. Awards: Purple Heart, Silver Star, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. He lived at 416 Taylor Avenue, Camden NJ. Buried at Plot P95, Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly NJ.
Staff Sergeant Robert C. Redding was born in New Jersey on March 16, 1921 to Charles and Evelyn Redding. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all served in the armed forces of the United States. By 1930 his mother had re-married, to Albert J. Cooper, who worked as a lather in building construction. The family lived on the Good Intent-Woodbury Road in Deptford Township NJ. Robert Redding graduated from Pitman High School in neighboring Pitman NJ. His mother remarried again at some point after the 1930 census, and in the early 1940s lived at 416 Taylor Avenue in Camden prior to entering the service. Robert Redding had worked for the R.M. Hollingshead Corporation in Camden NJ before his induction into the Army.
After entering the United States Army in September of 1942, Robert Redding qualified for flight training, and received schooling at Miami Beach FL and Walla Walla WA before going overseas. After completing 25 missions, his plane was reported as missing in action on October 8, 1943 on a mission against Bremen. His body was not recovered until after the war had ended. He was awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster in absentia in January of 1944. The medal was awarded to his mother at New Castle Army Air Force Base at Wilmington DE.
Robert Redding was brought home after the war, and he was buried at Beverly National Cemetery on July 19, 1950. He was survived by his mother Mrs. Evelyn A. MacDonald, his half brother William, and three half-sisters, Caroline, Evelyn, and Betty Jane. His death was reported in the October 30, 1943 edition of the Camden Courier-Post.
Robert C. Redding Rites Wednesday
Camden Courier-Post —
Robert C. Redding Rites Wednesday
Services for S/Sgt. Robert C. Redding will be held Wednesday at 1 p. m. in the funeral home of B. C. Schroeder & Sons, 715 Cooper street, where friends may call Tuesday night. Burial, with military rites, will be in the National cemetery, Beverly.
Members of the Lawrence E. Jones post 1274, VFW, of Westville Grove, for which Sergeant Redding blew the bugle when he was a boy, will attend the funeral.
Sergeant Redding, a member of the crew of a B-17 bomber of the Eighth Air Force, was shot down over Bremen, Germany, Oct. 8, 1943, at the age of 22. Sergeant Redding formerly lived near Hurffville and was employed by the R. M. Hollingswood Corp. He was a graduate of the Pitman High school.
He had made his twenty-fifth mission and had been awarded a medal for that feat, and also was awarded the Silver Star and four oak leaf clusters and the Purple Heart posthumously.
His father, Charles, of Elmer; his grandfather and his great-grandfather all served in the armed forces of the nation.
Also surviving are his mother, Mrs. Evelyn MacDonald, of 226 North Seventh street; a half brother, William Cooper, now serving with the army in Korea, and three half-sisters, Caroline, Evelyn, and Betty Jane Cooper, all of Camden county.
Awards
Medals awarded to Staff Sergeant Robert C. Redding, including the Purple Heart, Silver Star, and Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.
Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly, NJ
Named: Staff Sergeant Robert C. Redding, Plot P95, Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly NJ. S SGT 390 AAF BOMB GP, New Jersey, March 16, 1921, and October 8, 1943..