World War II Honoree

Robert R. Bilstein

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Alamosa, Colorado

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private First Class. Inducted into the United States Marine Corps July 12, 1943 at Denver, Colorado, with recruit training assigned to the Eleventh Recruit Battalion Recruit Depot; Marine Corps Base San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton Oceanside, California for combat training. Following basic and advanced infantry training, he served as a Rifleman with Bravo Company, First Battalion, Twenty-Eighth Marine Regiment a subordinate unit of the Fifth Division Location: Western Pacific Theater of Operations. His division participated in the amphibious assault on the Volcanic Island of Iwo Jima (Battle Dates: February 19-March 26, 1945) Code Name: Operation Detachment. February 19, 1945 he was mortally wounded, during combat operations against the Imperial Japanese forces, with burial in the Fifth Marine Division battlefield cemetery on Iwo. Succeeding hostilities with Japan, his family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at Santa Fe National Cemetery Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, with interment April 22, 1948. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.