Robert Lee Garrett was born on April 3, 1918, in Oklahoma, the son of Chester and Hazel Garrett. Affectionately known as “Bobby” to his family, he grew up with his brother John in Norman, Oklahoma, where the family resided along Rural Route No. 3. Garrett enlisted in the United States Army on December 2, 1941, and subsequently attended officer training, receiving his commission as a Second Lieutenant on May 28, 1943. He became a pilot in the United States Army Air Forces and was assigned to the 785th Bombardment Squadron, 466th Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force.

On March 23, 1944, Garrett was piloting the B-24H Liberator #42-52587, nicknamed Shoo Shoo Baby, on a bombing mission against Achmer Airfield in Germany. The aircraft had departed RAF Attlebridge in Norfolk, England, as part of the 466th Bombardment Group's second combat mission. While flying through unfavorable weather conditions over the German-occupied Netherlands, Shoo Shoo Baby collided in midair with another B-24H Liberator from the same squadron, #41-29466, nicknamed Dark Rhapsody. Both aircraft crashed near Vollenhove in the Dutch province of Overijssel, with Shoo Shoo Baby plunging into Lake Boschwijde. The collision claimed the lives of six crew members aboard Garrett's aircraft and all nine airmen aboard Dark Rhapsody.

Garrett survived the crash alongside fellow airmen Billy Boyer and Howard King. Two Dutch civilians, Wicher Rozeboom and Harm Jordens, who had witnessed or heard the disaster, rowed onto the lake and rescued the three Americans from the water. They brought the survivors to the home of Jannes Ziel, where they received assistance before being transferred to a Dutch Resistance network led by Peter van den Hurk.

The Resistance subsequently arranged for the airmen to travel into Belgium, where they were placed under the protection of the Comet Line, an underground escape network that assisted downed Allied aviators in reaching neutral Spain through occupied Belgium and France. During the dangerous journey, Boyer was captured by German forces and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war, while Garrett and King continued their attempts to evade capture.

By May 1944, Garrett had reached Liège, Belgium, where he remained sheltered by a local family for approximately three weeks. During his stay, he wrote a heartfelt letter to his mother expressing his gratitude for the courage and generosity of the Resistance members and civilians who had protected him. Because of wartime conditions, the letter could not be delivered until after the war.

In June 1944, Garrett was taken to Queue-du-Bois, Belgium, where he found refuge with 61-year-old farmer Joseph Bourdouxhe, his son Jean, and Jean's wife at their home on Rue de la Paix. Following the Allied landings in Normandy, the Comet Line increasingly encouraged hidden airmen to remain in secure locations rather than risk the dangerous journey to Spain, as Allied forces were advancing toward Belgium. Garrett therefore remained with the Bourdouxhe family throughout the summer, developing a close relationship with his hosts, who came to regard him as a member of their own family.

On September 7, 1944, as German forces were retreating from the region, Garrett was helping Madame Bourdouxhe gather fruit in the family's orchard. Dressed in civilian clothing, he appeared to be an ordinary local farmworker. At approximately 8:00 a.m., a passing German vehicle carrying SS personnel approached the orchard, and one of its occupants opened fire, fatally shooting Garrett. He was 26 years old. The circumstances indicate that the German soldier apparently mistook him for a Belgian civilian, although the shooter's precise motive remains unknown.

Just three days later, on September 10, 1944, American troops of the 33rd Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, liberated Queue-du-Bois. The following day, the Bourdouxhe family buried Garrett in their family tomb at the village cemetery, honoring the young American aviator they had sheltered and embraced as one of their own.

Following the end of the war in Europe, the Bourdouxhe family established correspondence with Garrett's parents and returned his personal belongings. His brother, Sergeant John C. Garrett, who was serving with the United States Army in Asia, wrote to the family in July 1945, expressing his appreciation for their kindness and their willingness to consider Bobby part of their family. In September 1945, Garrett's mother, Hazel, also wrote to the Bourdouxhes, thanking them for protecting and caring for her son during his final months. She recalled praying throughout the war that he was alive and surrounded by compassionate people, a hope she later learned had been fulfilled.

On March 4, 1946, without the Garrett family's prior knowledge, the United States Army disinterred Bobby's remains from the Bourdouxhe family tomb and transferred them to the Netherlands American Cemetery at Margraten. When Chester Garrett learned of the transfer, he strongly protested the decision and began petitioning military authorities to return his son's remains to Queue-du-Bois, where he wished Bobby to rest among the Belgian people who had befriended him.

The village authorities supported the family's request. The local mayor appealed to the United States Embassy in Belgium, offering a place of honor in the veterans' section of the village cemetery and agreeing to cover the expenses associated with the reburial and maintenance of the grave.

In June 1948, the United States Department of the Army approved the family's request. On March 29, 1949, Garrett's remains were disinterred from Margraten and returned to Queue-du-Bois, where he was reburied with military honors. His final resting place became a lasting tribute to the bond between the American airman and the Belgian community that had sheltered him during the final months of his life.

Source: American Overseas Memorial Day Association (AOMDA) Foundation — Robert Lee Garrett.