The Western Star, August 4, 1944. BILL ROBBINS is MISSING in ACTION.
County's Only Paratrooper Is Unaccounted For Since D Day.
Bill Robbins, Pvt., U.S. Army. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Robbins of Coldwater received word from the War Department late Wednesday afternoon that their son, Pvt. Bill Robbins, had been missing in action in France since June 6.
On May 28 Bill wrote his parents that the time was getting close for things to happen and again indicated his desire to get into action. The letter was postmarked in England May 30 and nothing had since ben heard from him until the telegram on Wednesday.
It is thought that he was among the paratroopers in the first wave that invaded France during the night of June 5-6. Whether he is a German prisoner, is safe in the hands of French patriots, or is a casualty is not yet known.
Since his graduation from Coldwater High school as a football and basketball star, Bill has ben the idol of many a Coldwater boy and young man.
He enlisted in the Army in California in June, 1941, and chose being a paratrooper because it sounded exciting. He became an outstanding paratrooper and was completely devoid of fear. His crew established, at Alliance, Nebraska, the record of the fastest landing in the whole division.
Last December, as a Staff Sgt. Bill landed in Ireland and there continued his hard training. When he was sent to England he asked to be made a buck private so he could be with his buddies more.
Bill will be 30 years of age next August 25. One sister, Mrs. Dorothy Stell, lives in San Francisco, where she is a telephone operator. Another sister, Pvt. Virginia Robbins, a member of the Women's Army Corps, was recently transferred from Fort Des Moines, Ia., to Wichita to become the permanent hostess to the new WAC Salon in that city.
Bill's many Comanche County friends are hoping to learn soon of his being found safe and sound in France.
The Western Star, October 27, 1944 PVT. BILL ROBBINS A GERMAN PRISONER
Will Receive Bronze Star and Presidential CitationA few weeks ago Mrs. Dorothy Stell of San Francisco called her mother, Mrs. Fred Robbins of Coldwater, long distance and breathlessly told her that she had received word from one of her brother Bill's pals that he knew that Bill was safe as a German prisoner.
Bill had been reported by the War Department as missing in action since June 6, D-Day.
In the letter received by Mrs. Stell the following information was given: "I can now tell you that Bill is O.K. One of the boys who was captured with him escaped last week and made his way back to our lines and has returned to the company. He said Bill was absolutely all right, so please don't worry. Am enclosing a picture taken an hour before the take off on D-Day. The three of us have been together ever since we came into the Army as paratroopers.
"We were all on a special mission and were the first ones in on D-Day. We were all awarded the Bronze Star and the Presidential Citation. I don't know whether you know what division Bill was in, but it was Sgt. York's old division."
Verification of the above report that Pvt. Robbins has been taken prisoner was given in the following telegram received by Mr. and Mrs. Robbins recently:
Washington, D. C.
Report just received through the International Red Cross that your son, Private William L. Robbins, is a prisoner of war of the German government. Letter of information from Provost Marshal General. J. A. Ulio. The Adjutant General.Bill's many friends in this county will be elated to learn that he was not a casualty as was feared during the two months or more when no word was received concerning him.
The Western Star, February 9, 1945. PVT. BILL ROBBINS, NAZI PRISONER, WRITES.
Card Received Last Saturday In His Own Handwriting.On January 24, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Robbins received a card from their son, Pvt. Bill Robbins, printed with a pencil under date of September 9, and sent from Kriegagefangenlager, a German prison camp. The card read: "Dear Folks, A card to let you know I'm in good health and getting along fine. Please don't worry as we are well taken care of. Hope this card finds you both in good health."
Then last Saturday, Mrs. Robbins received most heartening news when a card, written in Bill's own handwriting came to her from some camp under date of November 5, 1944. It reads: "Dear Mother and All, Getting along fine. Hope you have heard from me by this time. Working on a farm in Germany. Everything O.K. Hope you are well. Love, Bill."
Pvt. Robbins many friends here are elated to learn he is safe, after being reported missing for several months after D Day. He is a paratrooper. (SB)
The Western Star , May 22, 1945. IS LIBERATED FROM GERMAN PRISON CAMP
Pvt. William Robbins a Prisoner Since June 6, 1944.Top news of the week at Coldwater this week includes word that Pvt. Bill Robbins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Robbins of Coldwater has been released from a German prison camp.
We copy the following account from Tuesday's Wichita Eagle:
The War Department last night notified Sgt. Virginia Robbins of the WAC recruiting office in the U. S. employment office here, that her brother, Pvt. William Robbins, 30, had been liberated from a German prison camp. He had been located at Stalag 7-A, near Munich. The liberation was made April 29.
Private Robbins was captured by the Nazis on D Day, June 6, 1944 when his paratrooper battalion jumped on the coast of Normandy in advance of the Allied landings to clean out German pockets and prepare the way for establishment of beachheads.
Robbins is widely known in Kansas sports circles. He starred in football, basketball and baseball in the Coldwater High School, and later at Kansas State Teachers College at Pittsburg. He was also an outstanding player in Kansas Ban Johnson baseball circles prior to entering the armed forces in May, 1942. He has been overseas since November, 1943. (SB)
The Western Star , June 6, 1945. Pvt. Bill Robbins Is Back In The U.S.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Robbins of this city received good news last Sunday. In the afternoon a telegram from their son, Pvt. Bill Robbins, stating that he was back in the States and was darned glad to be here.
Then in the afternoon a phone call came from him from New York. He has to be checked out at California before coming home for a nice long visit.
Bill was a prisoner of the Germans from D Day until he was finally found in a German prisoner of war camp in Germany after they were defeated. He will no doubt have a great many interesting experiences to relate. (SB)
The Western Star , June 22, 1945. PVT. BILL ROBBINS INTERNEE, NOW HOME.
Coldwater Paratrooper Had Been Missing Since D Day.Pvt. Bill Robbins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Robbins of Coldwater, returned home last Saturday after having been declared either missing in action or a German prisoner since D Day, more than a year ago.
A great many people have wondered what his experiences were, and here is the story.
Bill enlisted in the Army at Los Angeles, Calif.., in June, 1941, a little over four years ago and joined up with the paratroopers because it sounded exciting. On December 5, 1943, after 30 months of training in the States he went overseas and spent the time training in Northern Ireland, except for four months in England.
At 1:30 a.m. on D Day, 20 picked paratroopers went in half an hour ahead of the rest and were dropped from a transport plane seven miles behind the Normandy beach line. After landing, only three paratroopers got together and the other two were shot by the Germans the next morning. Bill alone fought the Germans for three days, or until his ammunition gave out, and on June 9 was captured by an enemy patrol of eight men.
He was taken behind the lines and interrogated closely and privately. Bill says the Germans knew more about the Yanks than he did. As the number of allied prisoners increased they walked or rode in trucks or trains across France and into Germany. That was almost a terrifying experience as the American prisoners of war were strafed and bombed along with the retreating Germans. After being in various small transient camps, they were taken to the large Stalag 7A prison camp located about 30 miles from Munich near the Alps in southeastern Germany. About 200 men were placed in each of the 50 or 60 wooden barracks, which had wooden bunks with straw mattresses.
There was not much food, potatoes, a little soup made of garbage or potato peelings, and never any meat. When Pvt. Robbins, who is over 6 feet tall, entered the camp he weighed 207 pounds and when on October 6, he and 28 others had an opportunity to go on a farm detail he accepted it with alacrity for he was getting pretty hungry and only weighed 165 pounds.
They were taken to a community where the Yanks were placed on small farms, the operators of which lived in the town. Bill was assigned to work for an old man and woman. In cold weather he cut wood and it was his duty to curry the cows and look after them. During the spring he plowed with a team of big oxen which were strong but very slow. A leather frontlet across the heads of the oxen was connected with the plow which was kept upright by small wheels.
One can imagine this big Coldwater athlete plodding across the fields all day leading the oxen at their mile and a half an hour speed. The prisoners were worked from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. at which time they were taken back to their barracks for the night. He tried to tell them he was an A. F. of I., but didn't get away with it. Sundays they could have the run of a barbed wire enclosure, 30 feet square for 29 men, with four guards outside to keep them company. The Americans were paid 90 German marks and 90 pfennigs every two weeks, but you couldn't spend it, for practically everything was rationed. Occasionally they were permitted to go to the stores in the town, accompanied by the guards, and were not mistreated.
Scarcely any paper was available for writing home and he received only a few letters from home. One written by Bill's mother December 29 reached him in April.
The couple for whom Bill worked sometimes listened to German news broadcasts, then they permitted him to listen to English newscasts in a shade drawn room with the radio turned very low in volume. Discovery by the gestapo of this privilege would have meant instant death after torture for the couple. Thus Bill could bring to his buddies some news of the Allies' advance into Germany.
During his six months imprisonment only four Red Cross packages reached him. The Red Cross finally got through with some shirts, pants, an overcoat and a pair of shoes for him. The GIs had remained clad in their army clothes and the German government furnished only one pair of shoes. They had leather tops and thick wooden soles. Bill wore them and got used to hobbling along in them as he worked. Some medical attention was given by a German doctor but he was kept very busy with wounded Germans.
One prisoner, Thos. Glick of Calumet City, Ill., spoke German and acted as interpreter. The Germans thought all paratroopers were ex-Chicago gangsters and their soldiers were sure that New York City had been bombed.
Last March and April as the Germans retreated they began shooting the American prisoners who could not walk farther back into Germany. Finally Germany agreed to leave the prisoners in camp as the Americans advanced. Rumor had that about 2000 prisoners who were in tents along a river would be liberated to the Americans, but Bill and 14 of the 29 men in his group slipped away through the willows on April 28, 1945, and made their way to a German town. They saw some American tanks coming and when they were close they let out a yell and ran to the Americans who did not shoot when they discovered the men were not Jerries. The men hugged each other and were wild with joy at being liberated. The other 14 men were liberated the next day.
Bill was taken to Rogensburg, Germany and the following day was flown to La Harve, France, where he was given new clothes and deloused before being shipped to the States. From New York he was sent to Camp Beale, Calif., and he is now home on a 60 day leave, after which he will have a 13 day rest period in a Santa Barbara, Calif., hotel. A very strict physical examination will follow to determine whether he gets further military duty or not.
Of the 20 men who were on the advance detail on D Day only four are alive. While he has no desire for further combat, he says he is willing to do whatever Uncle Sam desires of him to do. Words cannot express the gratitude and pleasure Bill has just to be here in Coldwater once again.
Thanks to Shirley Brier for transcribing and contributing the news articles!
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