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Remember...Robert Henry McArdle
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Robert Henry McArdle was born March 24, 1920, in Akron, Ohio, where his father Joseph was at the time employed as a tire builder in that city’s budding rubber industry. Joseph and his wife Pearl Yardley McArdle had two additional children, older son Joseph ("Bonner") and younger son Lee. Originally from Pennsylvania, the family had moved back to that state by 1930, where Joseph worked as a foreman for a coke company that later moved him to Morgantown, West Virginia. Thus, Robert attended Morgantown High School, where he excelled in athletics (wrestling) and participated in multiple school activities. He would go on to attend West Virginia University, where he again participated in wrestling and was a member of the ROTC.
Soon after the outbreak of World War II, Robert enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. Brother Bonner enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, while Lee later enlisted in the Navy. Commissioned as a second lieutenant, Robert was assigned to the Second Marine Air Wing of the Fleet Marine Force. He began training at the Naval Air Station in San Diego, California.
Joseph died in August 1942, but Robert and Bonner (who was in England) were unable to return home to assist their mother in dealing with their father's death. Robert spent most of the remainder of that year preparing to train others regarding flying techniques and plane operations. In 1943, he married Marion L. Anglemyer, a classmate from Morgantown High School. Presumably this happened early in the year, as Robert joined the Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 132 (VMSB-132) on January 31, 1943.
After several months of training, Robert's squadron was deployed to Guadalcanal, where they provided support for ground troops and flew bombing missions, so full of danger that any one of which might prove the end of their plane--and their lives. Following a temporary respite in Australia, Robert returned to Guadalcanal. On June 30, 1943, Robert's plane, along with six others, did not return from a mission involving antiaircraft fire at Vila Airfield. Although the others were later accounted for, Robert and his radio gunner were declared missing in action on June 30, 1943. Two years later, he was declared dead, and his body, unrecoverable. Temporarily promoted to first lieutenant on April 22, 1943, Robert was posthumously given the rank of captain. A Purple Heart recipient, Robert is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery. His mother also honored him with the placement of a headstone installed in the Grafton National Cemetery in 1961.
Essays from the National Cemeteries Project are posted on the West Virginia Humanities Council's website. For a more comprehensive biography of Robert McArdle, refer to the essay written by Grafton High School students Caleb Dussart, Kassie Swiger, and Gabriel Young at https://wvhumanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/McArdle_Robert_Henry-USMC.pdf.
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.
