Robert Burl Feese was born on September 25, 1922 in Albia, Monroe County, Iowa. His NARA enlistment record states he enlisted on September 28, 1942 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It also states he was born in Iowa, had completed one year of college (unnamed), was single, and had been a salesperson.

After basic training, he qualified for flight duty and was sent to aerial gunnery school. When he completed this course of instruction, he was promoted to Sergeant, and assigned to an operational unit for combat crew training, further gunnery instruction, and assignment to a replacement combat crew.

The crew was deployed to England in the middle of 1943. After transitional training, they were assigned to the 560th Bomb Squadron of the 388th Bomb Group, located at Knettishall, England. The crew flew 2 missions, the first on November 3, 1943. The next, and final mission, was flown on November 5, 1943. The target was German war facilities at Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

The bomber formation reached the target and bombed successfully. On the return trip, according to some reports, the B-17 in which Sgt Feese was a crew member was struck by flak. An observer later stated that the aircraft fell behind the formation with bomb doors open. It dropped from 27,000 feet altitude with #2 prop feathered, and with # 3 engine smoking and streaming fuel. It then dove sharply into an overcast and was lost to sight. A separate report credits Lt. Horst Ertmann, flying a FW-190, with shooting it down. It is not known if this was a bounce on a straggler or not. The aircraft crashed in relatively good shape between Biorvhet and Ijzendijke, Netherlands.

It is not known when the crew attempted to bail out, but according to the action report, SSgt Feese bailed out and his chute caught on the tail, and he was killed. Another gunner was killed, but while 1 crew member evaded, the remaining crew were captured.

Source of information: airforce.togetherweserved.com