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Remember...Robert Arnold Tate Jr.
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Robert Arnold Tate Jr. was born in Charleston, West Virginia, on February 22, 1949. He had only one sibling, a younger sister named Irene "Lisa" Tate Burdette. In Robert's early childhood, he attended Bonham Elementary school in Edens Fork, West Virginia. He later attended Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in Charleston, and finally attended and achieved his diploma from Sissonville High School in Sissonville, West Virginia, probably in 1968. Throughout high school he worked at the Pickway Grocery as a stock boy to help his family.
The Civil Rights movement was at a height during his adolescence, and the first steps of integrated schooling began to materialize while Bobby was still in elementary and junior high school. Bobby married his wife, Barbara Sue Jeffery Tate, just out of high school. They had no children. He grew up during the transitional period after the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. The Korean War began and ended while he was just a young child, and at the same time, the second Red Scare was becoming a defining issue.
The Red Scare would lead to tensions between the United States and some communist nations, due to the large fear of communism at the time. To many, the Korean War and the Vietnam War both were offensive wars against the spread of communism abroad. Seeking to help his country, Bobby enlisted in the United States Army as an 11C, Indirect-Fire Infantryman, in 1968. Once he completed his basic training, possibly at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and his advanced individual training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, he was ready to be deployed to Vietnam. There is a good chance that Bobby was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington, to catch his plane to Vietnam.
Bobby started his tour in Vietnam on January 19, 1969, and was assigned to Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry, 196th Infantry Brigade, 23rd Infantry Division. More than likely, when he arrived in Vietnam, he was sent to a week of intensive in-country training at the Americal Division's Combat Center in Chu Lai. After his training, he linked up with his unit at Landing Zone (LZ) Ross and probably started combat patrols searching for the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). According to the unit's publication, The Charger, Vol. 1, No. 3, dated February 21, 1969, the 2nd Battalion/1st Infantry was located at "LZ Ross and had discovered large caches of enemy ammunition and weapons hidden in well concealed caves while on search and clear missions in a mountainous NVA stronghold area, located 25 miles west of Tam Ky."
On March 20, 1969, at approximately 11:50 in the morning, elements of Bobby's unit came under mortar attack with 14 rounds of 82 mm mortars striking the unit and killing five and severely wounding 11 other soldiers. The unit called for Bravo Company to reinforce their position as well as an air strike. The ground units expelled their ammo and called for artillery with unknown results. The wounded were evacuated with a dust-off mission at 12:35. Private First Class Bobby Tate Jr. was one of the five soldiers killed that day.
Unfortunately, like many other young men in the Vietnam War, Bobby met his fate much earlier than anybody would hope and was one of 17 men that died due to mortar fragmentation at the Khang River in Quang Tin, Vietnam. He died just two months and one day after he began his tour.
On March 3, 2018, several senators introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 49 requesting the West Virginia Division of Highways to rename the I-77 Surface Drive Overpass near Edens Fork as the "U. S. Army PFC Robert 'Bobby' Tate, Jr., Memorial Bridge." His name is inscribed on the Washington D.C. Vietnam Memorial Wall on Panel 29W, Line 94. His name is also located on the West Virginia Vietnam War Memorial in Charleston, West Virginia. Bobby was laid to rest in Cecil Layne Cemetery in Edens Fork, Kanawha County, West Virginia. Currently he is survived by his niece Amber Ashbury of Charleston, West Virginia.
For his sacrifice and his actions, he received the following awards and decorations: the Combat Infantry Badge, National Defense Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and Vietnam Campaign Medal. He was posthumously recognized with the Purple Heart.
 Combat Infantryman's Badge |
 National Defense |
 Vietnam Service Medal |
 Vietnam Campaign |
 Purple Heart |
Article prepared by Shaun P. Platthy and Gavin L. McGee, George Washington High School JROTC
February 2020
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.
