1st Lt. Robert F. Heil
United States Army Air Corps (1941-1943)

Robert Frederick Heil was born on January 17, 1921, to Fred J. and Magdalene H. Heil. The Heil family, including older sister Helen, lived at 906 Bayridge Avenue. Robert was a graduate of Brookline Elementary and South Hills High School. He was also a member of the Brookline United Methodist Church.

When he was just thirteen, in November 1934, Robert's mother passed away. Shortly after, he moved into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Trimble at 930 Bayridge Avenue, becoming their foster son. After high school, he took a job as a stock clerk at Lee S. Smith & Company, a dental supply firm. He enlisted in the Army on February 18, 1941, with dreams of becoming a fighter pilot.

After basic training and flight school, Lt. Heil was assigned to the 309th Pursuit Squadron, part of the 31st Pursuit Group of the U.S. Third Air Force. Before leaving for overseas duty, Robert met and married Marion M. Heuisler on August 22, 1942, in Sarasota, Florida.

On October 27, 1942, Robert left the United States to join the 309th Squadron, which was then stationed at Gibraltar preparing for the Allied Invasion of North Africa. While in Gibraltar, Lt. Heil met the commanding officer of the neighboring 4th Pursuit Group, Captain George Evan, a WWI veteran pilot who had flown with Eddie Rickenbacker in the famed 94th Aerosquadron. In a touch of irony, Captain Evan was also one of Robert's former teachers at South Hills High School.

Armed with the British Supermarine Spitfire MkVb, the 31st Pursuit Group and the 309th Squadron joined the North African conflict as part of the U.S. 12th Air Force. According to Captain Evan in an interview a few months later, the squadrons engaged on the continent "fought all over North Africa."

The captain was not kidding. The 309th began the conflict in Gibraltar, then moved to Tafaraoui, Algeria, were they were promptly attacked by four French Dewoitines as they were touching down. The squadron then relocated to Le Senia, Algeria, where they flew routine patrols for three months.

On February 7th, the 309th moved up near the front lines, setting up base at Thelepte, Tunisia. The Germans had begun an offensive against the American 1st Infantry and 1st Armored Divisions. On the 15th the squadron intercepted a force of sixteen ME-109s and FW-190s heading for their base, claiming two enemy planes and thwarting the attack. Two days later, they were forced to evacuate quickly, leaving behind much of their equipment and supplies because of the rapid German advance during the Battle of Sidi Bou Zid.

They relocated to Tebessa in Algeria, then to Canrobet, and yet again to Kalaa Djerda, Tunisia before returning to Thelepte on March 11. Some squadron pilots flew as many as six missions a day in support of the ground troops, with numerous air-to-air engagements against the Luftwaffe. During this time, Lt. Robert Heil distinguished himself as a skilled and courageous fighter pilot.

British Supermarine Spitfire MkVb of the 309th Fighter Squadron, similar to the one flown by Lt. Robert F. Heil.

Three weeks later the squadron was staging out of Gafsa where, during a fighter sweep near El Guettar on April 1, 1943, Lt. Heil was the first to identify a force of enemy aircraft about to attack a formation of allied bombers. Calling out their position, he dived immediately to intercept the enemy planes and disrupt their attack.

In the ensuing engagement, Lt. Heil saw that his squadron commander, Major Harrison Thyng, who was in combat with an ME-109, was about to be attacked from the rear by three enemy fighters. He flew to the commander's aid through an intensive anti-aircraft barrage, then engaged the enemy planes himself. Lt. Heil held them off until the squadron leader had shot down his own adversary and could help disperse the others.

For his actions on that day, Lt. Robert Frederick Heil would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. During the North African campaign, he also earned the Air Medal and a Purple Heart after being wounded by an enemy strafing attack on his squadron base.

Soon the allied advance was moving so fast that the squadron moved in quick succession first to Djilma, and then to Le Sers, where they took possession of their first upgraded Spitfire MkIX's. The Tunisian Campaign ended on May 11, 1943. By then the 309th had tallied twenty-seven aerial victories against only five pilots lost, the best in the 31st Fighter Group.

On May 17 the squadron moved to Korba on the Gulf of Tunis. From May 26 to June 11, Lt. Heil and the 309th focused their attentions on the heavily fortified Italian held island of Pantelleria, adding to their record of success.

When the Invasion of Sicily began, the squadron was based on the island of Gozo, two miles from Malta. On July 10 they flew convoy cover for the allied fleet on the first day of the attack. The squadron soon moved to Ponte Oliva, Sicily, then to Agrigent, close to the front lines. On the 27th of July they began flying missions from a field near Palermo.

It was from their base on Palermo, on July 28, 1943, that Lt. Robert F. Heil took off on what was to be his 52nd and final mission. While flying a forward reconnaisance mission in support of General Patton's 7th Army, his Spitfire was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire. Heil's body was interred on the island of Sicily.

News of Lt. Heil's death soon reached his wife Marion in Baltimore, Maryland, where she was living with her parents and her newborn son, Robert John, who was only two months old at the time. The Trimble family on Bayridge Avenue in Brookline also received word of their foster son's death. They in turn passed on the sad news to Robert's father, Fred, who by then had moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, in search of employment.

While the community of Brookline mourned the loss of another brave son, reports of Lt. Heil's heroism at El Guettar had filtered up the chain of command, resulting in his posthumous award of the Distinguished Flying Cross. Along with the award came a citation from General Jimmy Doolittle stating that Lt. Heil "had consistently distinguished himself through his outstanding professional skill and his eagerness to take part in all missions."

On April 13, 1944, the Pittsburgh Press published a short article on Lt. Robert F. Heil. His widow Marion had come to town to visit the Trimble family at their Brookline home and to show them the citations and medals he had earned. They also met Robert's son, eleven-month old Bobby, who was photographed holding the medals of the hero-father he would never know.

After Lt. Heil's death, the 309th Fighter Squadron continued it's service in Sicily, then during the campaigns in Italy and Southern France. As Allied bombers began the strategic destruction of Axis petroleum and communications facilities in central Europe and the Balkans, the squadron was re-equipped with P-51 Mustangs and flew bomber escort missions. By war's end, the 309th had earned two Distinguished Unit Citations and fought in eight campaigns.

After the war, Robert Frederick Heil's body was returned to the United States. He was buried close to the home of his widow and child, on July 29, 1948, in the Baltimore National Cemetery. His date of interment was almost exactly five years after the date of his death.

* Written by Clint Burton: March 5, 2019 *

The Brookline War Memorial

Listed below are many of the sons of Brookline who gave their
lives to preserve freedom and contain aggression during
World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
General George S. Patton
 

World War I (1917-1919)

The World War I Memorial - Washington D.C.

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World War II (1941-1945)

The World War II Memorial - Washington D.C.

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Korean War (1950-1953)

Korean War Memorial - Washington D.C.

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Vietnam War (1965-1973)

Vietnam War Memorial - Washington D.C.

The Brookline Monument - The Cannon

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