Robert R. Riley was born in 1921 in Missouri. He resided in Los Angeles County, California prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army on September 10, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed in the mechanical treatment of metals and also as Single, without dependents. Robert served as a Technical Sergeant and Engineer / Gunner on B-24J #42-100184, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

B-24J #42-100184 took off, with a crew of 7 and 3 passengers, from Yangkai, China on a ferrying mission to Chabua, India. The last heard from them was a radio transmission noting they were 30 minutes east of Chabua. They crashed, for an unknown reason near Cheppe, Arunachal Pradesh, India during the war. Robert was declared "Missing In Action" on this mission.

The aircraft, along with evidence of human remains, was located December 2010 by MIA Recoveries, Inc. Remains have not as yet (2018) been recovered and/or identified.

Tsgt Riley was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov