Robert Eugene Mitchell was born at Spokane, Spokane County, Washington on January 22, 1924. His parents were Eugene Monro Mitchell (26 Jan 1897 – 27 Mar 1986), who was born at Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota; and Bessie Kathleen (Feeney) Mitchell (13 Mar 1898 – unk), who was born at Southampton, Hampshire, England. His parents married at Southampton, England on December 7, 1918 and moved to the United States in 1918.

He had two older sisters: Lorraine B. (Mitchell) Harbison Burke (abt Dec 1919 – 1984), and June M. (Mitchell) Litchfield (29 Nov 1921 – 30 Aug 2004); and three younger brothers: Clyde William Mitchell (11 Dec 1928 – 15 May 1993), Richard Mitchell (abt 1931 – unk), and Gary Mitchell (24 Jul 1935 – ). In 1940 the family lived at 2010 Madison Street, Spokane, Washington, and his father worked as an automobile mechanic.

His father's parents were Mathew M. Mitchell (abt Apr 1865 – 1950) and May (Courtney) Mitchell (abt Apr 1872 – unk), who were both born in Kentucky. They married about 1881, and in 1900 lived at 679 Lee Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota, where Mathew M. Mitchell was a locomotive engineer. In 1910 they lived at Deer Creek, Nez Perce County, Idaho, and Mathew Mitchell was a farmer. By January 1920 they lived at Spokane, Spokane County, Washington.

Robert E. Mitchell completed one year of high school, and worked as a construction foreman. He was single, with dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Spokane, Washington, on February 13, 1943. He married after enlisting. His wife was Virginia J. Mitchell.

He completed Army Air Forces radio operator and aerial gunnery training, and was assigned as radio operator on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Floyd W. McCullough. The McCullough crew completed crew training in the States and departed Hunter Field, Georgia on November 26, 1944, bound for England via the North Atlantic ferry route. The crew was assigned to the 837th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Army Air Forces Station 137, near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. The McCullough crew arrived at Station 137 by December 7, 1944, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

T/Sgt Mitchell and four of his crewmates were killed in action on February 20, 1945, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38596, was shot down by flak after bombs away over Nuremberg, Germany. The aircraft took a direct hit during the turn away from the target, the railroad station at Nuremberg, and exploded within 30 seconds. The Germans reported that the aircraft crashed at Rφthenbach an der Pegnitz, 10 kilometers east of Nuremberg, between 1300 and 1400 hours. The dead were buried at the cemetery in Fόrth, Germany, just west of Nuremberg.

After the war, T/Sgt Mitchell's remains were permanently reinterred at Lorraine American Cemetery in Saint-Avold, France.

B-17G 43-38596 crew:
• McCullough, Floyd W – 2/Lt – Pilot – POW
• Elam, Paul J – 2/Lt – Copilot – POW
• Whyte, Thomas C – F/O – Navigator – KIA
• Lehmkuhl, Donald J – 2/Lt – Bombardier – POW
• Taft, Kay S – T/Sgt – Engineer – POW
• Mitchell, Robert E – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Brotherton, Wayne C – Sgt – Spot Jammer – KIA
• Dunham, Hiram D – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA
• Raffel, William P – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA
• Hyatt, Gilbert E – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – POW

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com