BIOGRAPHY for ROBERT HOMRICH, WWII VETERAN
Proudly Served Our Country and Still Serving Our Community
Robert Homrich was born in Hammond, Indiana on July 24th , 1924.
Soon after finishing high school, he was drafted into the service at the age of 19 in August of 1943 and attended basic training in Amarillo, Texas.
Mr. Homrich originally trained to be a pilot with 40 other servicemen. After only two of the group of forty passed the test to advance, he then attended gunnery school at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. After a two month home pass, Homrich then went to Tampa, FL where his flight crew was assembled. He then traveled by ship from New Jersey to Liverpool, England where he was entered into the replacement pool of the 8th Air Force, 390th Bomber Group, 571 st Bomber Squadron. His job as part of the crew of nine in the B-17 Flying Fortress, was the ball turret gunner, the gun turret located on the bottom of the plane.
Mr. Homrich’s first mission was July 29th , 1944; an oil refinery in Merseburg, Germany. On this first mission one of the bombs did not fully release. German BF-109 and FW-190 enemy fighters attacked as the bomb dangled in the bomb bay. The bomb was successfully released by a fellow crew member named Grice. Other missions included the countries of Nazi occupied France, Poland, and Romania; along with the Allied controlled countries of Russia and Italy. Their plane was severely damaged on mission #3 & #31, barely making it back to England on mission #3. One of the crew counted 92 holes in the plane after mission #31. A detailed account of all 33 missions was written by pilot Walter E. Hannold of New Jersey. Due to the high number of incoming replacements, the crew only completed 33 of the required 35 missions.
Mr. Homrich signed up to go the Pacific but the war was soon over. He was discharged and welcomed home to Hammond, Indiana by his family in October of 1945.
After returning home from the war, Mr. Homrich worked for Linde Air Products, which was an industrial gas division of Union Carbide, now Praxair corporation. He retired after working 42 years.
He met his wife, Barbara, through a cousin of hers with whom he had attended school, later discovering that he and Barbara had actually attended school together in 1st and 2nd grades.
Robert and Barbara have been married for 71 years and currently make their home in Botetourt County. They have one son Robert, a daughter Janice Ann, 5 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. They attend the Church of The Transfiguration in Fincastle.
Mr. Homrich is a member of the 8 th Air Force fellowship group in Roanoke, VA.
Created DHS 6-25-18