Robert F. Miles

Staff Sergeant Robert F. Miles, Serial: 32755573, HQ Company, 2nd Battalion, 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division, U.S. Army. Awards: Purple Heart. He lived at 416 Webster Street, Camden NJ. Memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery, St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France.

Robert F. Miles was born in 1924 to William and Anna Miles. His father William was a plumbing contractor, and by 1930 the family had bought a house at 416 Webster Street in Camden NJ. Robert was the oldest child; his brother Joseph came in 1927 and William in September of 1929. His next door neighbor at 414 Webster was Stanley Bezich. William and Anna Miles were both active members of the Eighth Ward Democratic Club, which had its headquarters at 512 Ferry Avenue in the late 1930s.

Staff Sergeant Miles served with the 262nd Infantry Regiment, 66th Infantry Division. He was aboard the troopship SS Leopoldville when she was torpedoed and sunk on the night of December 24, 1944. Also lost that night was Private First Class Edward E. Benson of Camden NJ. Of the 2,235 men aboard the SS Leopoldville, 516 GIs were missing and presumed drowned, and another 248 died from injuries, drowning, and hypothermia. Robert Miles was among the missing. His death was reported in the March 29, 1945 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. The Miles family was still living at 416 Webster Street as late as 1956.