Soldat américain. (Matricule: 11106372), Le caporal Robert F. Kiley est né le 14 Novembre 1923 à Miller's Falls dans le Massachusetts. Robert Kiley est un des premiers Américains à sauter en parachute en Normandie. Il atterrit dans un pommier où il est délogé par les Allemands par une grenade. Blessé gravement à l'œil droit et à la jambe, il est soigné dans un hôpital à Rennes, puis est incarcéré dans le camp 221 de Saint-Jacques près de Rennes. Lorsque les Allemands évacuent ce camp face à l'avancée des troupes terrestres américaines, lui et 39 autres prisonniers sont enfermés dans un wagon de marchandises. Le 2 août, le train prend le chemin de Redon, Nantes, Angers, Langeais et Belfort. Il est ensuite emprisonné au Stalag VII A à proximité Moosburg, en Allemagne, jusqu'à la fin de la guerre. Les anciens prisonniers du camp se rappelle de lui, boitant dans le camp. Il le surnommait le "boxeur à l'œil de verre". Kiley a été médicalement Il est libéré de l'armée le 31 mai 1946. Il meurt peu de temps après à l'âge de 22 ans des suites de sa détention dans les camps.

Service: Corporal, Headquarters Company, Second Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment Deceased: 12 June 1946 Burial Location: Calvary Cemetery, Greenfield, Massachusetts in Lot 71 (Ascension Section), Grave 3. Corporal Robert F. Kiley was born 14 November 1923 in Miller’s Falls, Massachusetts. He graduated from Greenfield High School, Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 1942. A classmate recalled Kiley as being very outgoing and having “Hollywood good looks”. He entered the service Nov 2, 1942, and after initial processing at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, he completed his training at Fort Blanding, Florida, and Camp Mackall, North Carolina. He received his parachutist wings on March 5, 1943, and then served as an 81mm mortar crewman in Headquarters Company, Second Battalion, 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment.   Kiley departed Saltby, England, at 9:00 p.m. on the eve of D Day, on board one of 900 C-47 troop carriers destined for Normandy. The 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, was among the first Americans to land on French soil shortly after 2 a.m. on D Day.  The trip across the English Channel was uneventful with a clear night sky until the plane formations reached the French coast where the troop carriers encountered heavy cloud cover and accurate FLAK from German antiaircraft guns. The pilots broke formation and took evasive action resulting in paratroopers missing their designated drop zones and landing over a widely dispersed area. Some paratroopers jumped at altitudes so high that German gunners had ample time to train their guns on the hapless parachutists; others jumped at altitudes so low that their parachutes did not have time to deploy fully. Countless others, weighed down by 80 pounds of gear, drown in the flooded lowlands of the Merderet River.  After landing in an apple tree, Corporal Kiley engaged the Germans in a fierce battle. The Germans threw a grenade into the tree to dislodge Kiley. He was severely injured in the face and leg and blinded in his right eye. Taken to the Rennes POW Hospital, Kiley obtained from a German doctor one of only two glass eyes in the hospital. After leaving Langeais, Kiley was imprisoned at Stalag VIIA near Moosburg, Germany, until the end of the war. Kiley boxed while in prison camp and was vividly remembered by former POWs as “the boxer with the glass eye”.  Upon his return to the United States, Kiley was intermittently hospitalized during his convalescence from his battle injuries and the ravages of POW captivity. He met with the Alexander Kowalski family and recounted the story of the strafing attack at Langeais. In an attempt to allay his family’s concerns about his wartime experiences, Kiley described his military and POW service as an adventure and tried to present all the positive things until his father said, "If it was so much fun, why did you come home?"  The Army medically discharged Kiley on 31 May 1946. Twelve days later, at the age of 22 years, he died suddenly and unexpectedly on 12 June 1946 of an undisclosed cause. His survivors included his father, Timothy Kiley; his brothers, John, of Millers Falls; Wilfred, of Mamaroneck, New York; and Richard of Arlington, Massachusetts; and his sister, Mrs. Victor Ward of Orange, Massachusetts. His mother, Mabel Merritt Kiley, preceded him in death. PFC Kiley’s Awards  Combat Infantry Badge Bronze Star Purple Heart   Presidential Unit Citation

(Source: Jo Anna Shipley (Louisville, KY  40204)