When Robert George "Sleep" Beckman was born on August 4, 1925, in Buffalo, New York, his father, Samuel, was 26 and his mother, Margaret, was 28. He had four brothers and two sisters. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a Private First Class in Company F, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. He died from his wounds received in battle on January 8, 1945 and is now buried in Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, Hombourg, Belgium. He has a cenotaph located in Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, Hamburg, Erie County, New York, USA.