Service No.: 34447876
Ship Assignment: USS LST-531
ABMC Memorial Page: Click Here
Robert Marity Leach was born on June 19th, 1919, to parents, Mr and Mrs R. B. Leach near Adrian. Laurens County, Georgia. He spent two years at high school, and on leaving, took up an unskilled occupation in the manufacture of textiles.
On Ocober 17th, 1942, Robert enlisted at Fort Mcpherson Atlanta, Georgia, where it was recorded that he was 5 foot 11 inches tall, and weighed 150 lbs.
He received training at Camp Crowder, Neosho, Missouri, and Camp Ellis, Illinois.
Aged 24 years old, and a Technician Fifth Grade serving with the U.S. Army 35th Signal Construction Battalion, Robert was training in preparation for the D-Day landings in England, when he was caught up in the Exercise Tiger action in the early hours of April 28th, 1944, aboard USS LST-531. The ship came under attack from German e-boats in Lyme Bay, and was sunk. Robert was declared ‘Missing in Action’.
He left a wife and a 10-months-old son, Robert Jerry, back in Georgia.
Robert was awarded a Purple Heart.
Robert’s name is inscribed in the American Roll of Honour book in the American Memorial Chapel Roll of Honour at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Robert also has a memorial headstone at the Odom Cemetery, Rockledge, Laurens County, Georgia.