There is a Ridgewood High School football star from 70 years ago whose name comes back every year, year after year. A few of Ridgewood's 113 Honored Dead have been memorialized by friends and family so that even to this day we recognize their gifts and their sacrifice. One such memorial was created in the name of Richard Robb.
Sometimes known as Roscoe, he lived at 12 East Ridgewood Ave. and 334 Prospect Street. His only brother died in 1934. He attended elementary school in Ridgewood, was a Boy Scout and was active in the High School League at West Side Presbyterian Church. He also worked an afternoon job at a local Texaco Station. Before graduating from Ridgewood High School in 1941 he was in the Willow Club, played the trumpet in the swing band, acted in the Junior Play and was on the music committee for the Senior Prom. A lineman on the football team, his football coach later said "Richie was the epitome of all good virtues. He was an aggressive football player who ran like a deer".
He went to Virginia Tech and later to Lafayette College to study engineering. While there he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He joined the service and received his aerial gunner's wings at Ellington Field in Laredo, Texas in October 1943 and his commission at the Bombardier Quadrangle School in Childress, Texas on February 26, 1944. He was then assigned to Barksdale Field in Shreveport, La. Two months later on April 15, 1944 he married June Gorham, his RHS classmate, in the Post Chapel at Barksdale Field. Three months later he was best man at the marriage of another eventual Ridgewood casualty, Ronnie Helps.
As a member of the 584th Bomber Squadron, 394th Bomb Group Medium (9th AAF) his B-26 Marauder was engaged in low level bombing of railroad bridges and yards in the Rhine River Valley. He was killed in eastern France October 8, 1944 when his B-26 collided with another plane while landing upon return from a mission in Ahrweiler.
In 1983 friends created the Robb Football Trophy at RHS which is still presented to the outstanding varsity lineman upon the player's graduation in June. Robb is buried in Plot B, Row 20, Grave 71 at Epinal American Cemetery, Epinal, France. At death he was 21 years old.
Sometimes known as Roscoe, he lived at 12 East Ridgewood Ave. and 334 Prospect Street. His only brother died in 1934. He attended elementary school in Ridgewood, was a Boy Scout and was active in the High School League at West Side Presbyterian Church. He also worked an afternoon job at a local Texaco Station. Before graduating from Ridgewood High School in 1941 he was in the Willow Club, played the trumpet in the swing band, acted in the Junior Play and was on the music committee for the Senior Prom. A lineman on the football team, his football coach later said "Richie was the epitome of all good virtues. He was an aggressive football player who ran like a deer".
He went to Virginia Tech and later to Lafayette College to study engineering. While there he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He joined the service and received his aerial gunner's wings at Ellington Field in Laredo, Texas in October 1943 and his commission at the Bombardier Quadrangle School in Childress, Texas on February 26, 1944. He was then assigned to Barksdale Field in Shreveport, La. Two months later on April 15, 1944 he married June Gorham, his RHS classmate, in the Post Chapel at Barksdale Field. Three months later he was best man at the marriage of another eventual Ridgewood casualty, Ronnie Helps.
As a member of the 584th Bomber Squadron, 394th Bomb Group Medium (9th AAF) his B-26 Marauder was engaged in low level bombing of railroad bridges and yards in the Rhine River Valley. He was killed in eastern France October 8, 1944 when his B-26 collided with another plane while landing upon return from a mission in Ahrweiler.
In 1983 friends created the Robb Football Trophy at RHS which is still presented to the outstanding varsity lineman upon the player's graduation in June. Robb is buried in Plot B, Row 20, Grave 71 at Epinal American Cemetery, Epinal, France. At death he was 21 years old.
There is a Ridgewood High School football star from 70 years ago whose name comes back every year, year after year. A few of Ridgewood's 113 Honored Dead have been memorialized by friends and family so that even to this day we recognize their gifts and their sacrifice. One such memorial was created in the name of Richard Robb.
Sometimes known as Roscoe, he lived at 12 East Ridgewood Ave. and 334 Prospect Street. His only brother died in 1934. He attended elementary school in Ridgewood, was a Boy Scout and was active in the High School League at West Side Presbyterian Church. He also worked an afternoon job at a local Texaco Station. Before graduating from Ridgewood High School in 1941 he was in the Willow Club, played the trumpet in the swing band, acted in the Junior Play and was on the music committee for the Senior Prom. A lineman on the football team, his football coach later said "Richie was the epitome of all good virtues. He was an aggressive football player who ran like a deer".
He went to Virginia Tech and later to Lafayette College to study engineering. While there he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He joined the service and received his aerial gunner's wings at Ellington Field in Laredo, Texas in October 1943 and his commission at the Bombardier Quadrangle School in Childress, Texas on February 26, 1944. He was then assigned to Barksdale Field in Shreveport, La. Two months later on April 15, 1944 he married June Gorham, his RHS classmate, in the Post Chapel at Barksdale Field. Three months later he was best man at the marriage of another eventual Ridgewood casualty, Ronnie Helps.
As a member of the 584th Bomber Squadron, 394th Bomb Group Medium (9th AAF) his B-26 Marauder was engaged in low level bombing of railroad bridges and yards in the Rhine River Valley. He was killed in eastern France October 8, 1944 when his B-26 collided with another plane while landing upon return from a mission in Ahrweiler.
In 1983 friends created the Robb Football Trophy at RHS which is still presented to the outstanding varsity lineman upon the player's graduation in June. Robb is buried in Plot B, Row 20, Grave 71 at Epinal American Cemetery, Epinal, France. At death he was 21 years old.
Sometimes known as Roscoe, he lived at 12 East Ridgewood Ave. and 334 Prospect Street. His only brother died in 1934. He attended elementary school in Ridgewood, was a Boy Scout and was active in the High School League at West Side Presbyterian Church. He also worked an afternoon job at a local Texaco Station. Before graduating from Ridgewood High School in 1941 he was in the Willow Club, played the trumpet in the swing band, acted in the Junior Play and was on the music committee for the Senior Prom. A lineman on the football team, his football coach later said "Richie was the epitome of all good virtues. He was an aggressive football player who ran like a deer".
He went to Virginia Tech and later to Lafayette College to study engineering. While there he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He joined the service and received his aerial gunner's wings at Ellington Field in Laredo, Texas in October 1943 and his commission at the Bombardier Quadrangle School in Childress, Texas on February 26, 1944. He was then assigned to Barksdale Field in Shreveport, La. Two months later on April 15, 1944 he married June Gorham, his RHS classmate, in the Post Chapel at Barksdale Field. Three months later he was best man at the marriage of another eventual Ridgewood casualty, Ronnie Helps.
As a member of the 584th Bomber Squadron, 394th Bomb Group Medium (9th AAF) his B-26 Marauder was engaged in low level bombing of railroad bridges and yards in the Rhine River Valley. He was killed in eastern France October 8, 1944 when his B-26 collided with another plane while landing upon return from a mission in Ahrweiler.
In 1983 friends created the Robb Football Trophy at RHS which is still presented to the outstanding varsity lineman upon the player's graduation in June. Robb is buried in Plot B, Row 20, Grave 71 at Epinal American Cemetery, Epinal, France. At death he was 21 years old.
Gravesite Details
Entered the Service from New Jersey.
Family Members
Siblings
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Records on Ancestry
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U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S., Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949
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U.S., Newspapers.com™ Marriage Index, 1800s-2020
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1930 United States Federal Census
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U.S., World War II and Korean Conflict Veterans Interred Overseas
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U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
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