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Remember...Robert Lee Fleck
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 Bobby with his sister Loretta A. Cain and mother Virginia P. Fleck. Courtesy Tina Cain |
Robert Lee Fleck was born on February 6, 1948, at Dunn's Hospital in South Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia, but lived in the unincorporated community of Costa, in Boone County, with his family. His father was John Q. Fleck, and his mother was Virginia Pearl Walker Fleck. He had two sisters, Sue and Loretta, and three brothers, James E., John W., and Russell Wayne. Growing up he was commonly referred to as "Bobby." During his childhood, his family moved to St. Albans in Kanawha County. Bobby attended St. Albans High School; however, he dropped out at the age of 16 and went to work. |  Bobby Fleck with his brother, John, prior to his deployment to Vietnam. Courtesy Tina Cain |
 Bobby with older brother Jim Jacobs and nephew Tim Cain (Bobby called him Timbo). Courtesy Tina Cain |
 Front row from left to right: nieces and nephews Tim Cain, Tina Cain, Debbie Jacobs, brother Russell Wayne and nephew Rick Jacobs. Standing left to right: brother John W. Fleck, mother Virginia P. Fleck, Bobby, father John Q. Fleck, and brother Jim Jacobs. Courtesy Tina Cain |
The Vietnam War was a long and costly conflict that pitted the Communist government of North Vietnam backed by Russia and China against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Over three million people, including over 58,000 Americans, were killed during the Vietnam War, with more than half of those people being Vietnamese civilians. Opposition to the war divided the American public. United States military presence increased in the early 1960s after the domino theory came into play, which held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many other countries would follow. The United States deployed military advisers and personnel to South Vietnam to try to contain the spread of communism. The fear of the spread of communism in Asia was intensified by the Cold War.
In 1967, two years after dropping out of high school, Bobby enlisted in the U.S. Army during the height of the Vietnam War when he was just 18 years old. His Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) was 11B1P - Airborne Infantry. In April 1967, he was assigned to Camp Crockett located at Ft. Gordon, Georgia, for nine weeks of intensive Airborne Infantry training, followed by three weeks of Airborne training at Ft. Benning, Georgia. After his training, Bobby returned home for a couple of weeks before he was sent to Vietnam.
 Bobby in Vietnam. Courtesy Tina Cain |
On August 20, 1967, Private First Class Bobby Fleck was assigned to Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade. When he arrived at his unit, they were preparing for Operation Bolling. This was a combat search and destroy and reconnaissance in force operation conducted by the 503rd Infantry Regiment in Phu Yen Province and Tuy Hao Basin in South Vietnam from September 19, 1967, to January 31, 1969. Their mission was to locate and destroy the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) 95th Regiment which was believed to be located at a base known as "The Hub." |
Below is a cable text from General William Westmoreland regarding the military assessment for the month of September 1967:
Free World forces continue to provide the arena in which the vital work of nation building may proceed. All of our forces initially were preoccupied with providing an outer shield for the elections. In a series of operations after the elections, beginning with several sharp Republic of Korea/North Vietnamese Army engagements and continuing with operations Bolling and Do Kay Bee 3, combined forces this month challenged the strong North Vietnamese Army threat, to Phu Yen. By mid-month a three nation, multi-battalion attack was launched in the area west of Tuy Roa. One battalion of the 173rd Airborne Brigade conducted search and destroy operations in the hills to the west, while the other battalion from the 173rd and one battalion from the 1st Cavalry Division struck south and east, pounding the anvil provided by the 3rd and 4th Battalions, 47th Army of the Republic of Vietnam regiment, anchored in the valley. ("Text of Cable from General Westmoreland: Military Assessment for the Month of September," accessed 19 May 2021, https://vva.vietnam.ttu.edu/images.php?img=/images/024/0240803022.pdf.)
| On October 19, 1967, during combat operations in the Phu Yen Province, Pfc. Bobby Fleck warned members of his unit of an incoming grenade. He threw himself over the grenade saving the lives of his fellow soldiers but resulting in the loss of his life. He was one of 67 American soldiers that died during this operation. His body was recovered and returned to the United States, where it arrived safely at Leonard Johnson Funeral Home in Marmet, West Virginia. He was buried at the Spring Hill Cemetery located in Charleston, West Virginia. |  Military headstone for Cpl. Robert L. Fleck in Spring Hill Cemetery. Note the date of birth is listed as 1947, but the correct date is 1948. Find A Grave photo used with permission |
Pfc. Robert Lee Fleck was posthumously promoted to corporal and awarded the Purple Heart. He also earned the following commendations: the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Parachutist Badge, the Marksmanship Badge, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Army Presidential Unit Citation, the Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and the Army Good Conduct Medal. ("Robert Lee Fleck," HonorStates.org, accessed 19 May 2021, https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=272582.)
Cpl. Robert Lee Fleck will always be remembered as his name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on Panel 28E, Line 040, in Washington, D. C. He is also memorialized at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial located in Charleston, West Virginia. His name is also inscribed on the 173rd Airborne Brigade Sky Soldier Memorial located at the head of Walk of Honor at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Georgia. ("The Memorial," 173d Airborne Brigade National Memorial Foundation, accessed 10 May 2021, https://www.173dairbornememorial.org/the-memorial/.)
In 2012, the West Virginia Legislature introduced House Concurrent Resolution Number 38, wherein they requested the Ashford/Nellis Road in Boone County, West Virginia, beginning at the Boone County Line on Route 1 then proceeding southwest on Route 1 and ending at the intersection of Route 3 and Route 1, be named the "Vietnam Veteran Highway, in Honor of Cpl. Robert Lee Fleck, Sgt. Nile Dean Shumate, Cpl. Dana Edward Nelson and Cpl. James Charles Crose."
His friend Ray Cadd writes: "You and my sister were good friends, although [I] was a few years younger I always liked you and looked up to you! I remember when you told us you were going to Vietnam I was sad and worried for you, although young I knew it was not a good place to be stationed. . . . Then a short time went by, we all got the bad news that you had lost your life, I cried, to this day I hurt over what had happened, I will never forget you Bobby . . . ! May God be with your family. . . . Your neighbor, your friend." (Posted 10 October 2020 on "Robert Lee Fleck," HonorStates.org, accessed 19 May 2021, https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=272582.)
Bobby's niece, Tina Cain, in a May 2021 interview, said, "He loved his family and everyone he ever knew. He was a happy-go-lucky totally giving young man. That's how he was. Though I was only five years old at the time of his death we were very close. He is loved and missed today as much as when we lost him."
Article prepared by Abigail Stradley, Alannah Reece, and MAJ (Ret) T. Brad McGee, George Washington High School JROTC
May 2021
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
