Robert Carl Dean

Second Lieutenant Robert Carl Dean enlisted into the USAAF in 1943. He trained at Shepherd Field, Texas, and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant at Douglas Field in Arizona. He deployed overseas as a B-25 pilot/co-pilot with the 75th Bombardment Squadron of the 42nd Bombardment Group in September 1944. On Jan. 5, 1945, 2nd Lieutenant Dean was flying his 17th mission in the Pacific as the co-pilot of the 75th's B-25 #001 on a raid over Manado. On approach to the target, his B-25 took a round of flak to the right engine and they had to ditch into the water near Tifore Island, Indonesia. 2nd Lieutenant Dean was the only crewman killed in the ditching, and the remainder of the crew were rescued by an OA-10A Catalina seaplane. Second Lieutenant Robert Carl Dean was never recovered, and he is memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines.