Robert Keister was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on 23 November 1917. Little is known about his early life; he was the son of Norah (Hand) Keister and an unknown father absent through death or divorce. Norah married Ernest Bohne in 1926, and Robert grew up as the couple’s only child.

The family settled in Milwaukee, where Robert graduated from South Division High School in 1936. Prior to enlisting, he worked as an usher at Milwaukee’s Egyptian Theater.

Robert joined the Marine Corps on 24 May 1937, and after completing boot camp in San Diego was assigned to Scouting Squadron Two as a trainee mechanic.

Scouting Two would be Keister’s home for the next four years. He rose steadily through the ranks, earning his sergeant’s stripes in December 1940. The following month, he was placed on flight duty. In July 1941, Scouting Two was re-designated as VMSB-231; with war clouds rising, promising enlisted men were offered the chance to attend flight school. Staff Sergeant Keister was one of those chosen, and he reported to Pensacola, Florida in October 1941.

Keister earned his wings in the spring of 1942, and joined VMSB-242 in California. The squadron changed designations to VMF-215 in September 1942, and the bomber pilots all had to re-train in F4F-4 Wildcats. This delayed their overseas deployment until February 1943. They received new F4U fighters in Hawaii, which led to the squadron’s nickname “The Fighting Corsairs.”

Keister, by now a Marine Gunner, flew combat patrols and escort missions over Midway for a few months before VMF-215 headed to the South Pacific. Shortly after their arrival on Espiritu Santo, Keister was appointed a second lieutenant; he accepted the commission on 23 September 1943.

VMF-215 flew their first combat tour out of Santo. Keister participated in numerous combat actions in the northern Solomon Islands, though he shot down no planes, he was credited with strafing and destroying several on the ground.

For their second tour, the squadron flew to Barakoma Airfield on Vella LaVella – an ideal location to support the invasion of Bougainville.

On 1 November 1943, VMF-215 assigned two four-plane divisions to cover amphibious landing operations in Bougainville’s Empress Augusta Bay. Take-off was scheduled for 0445.

Two disasters happened simultaneously. At 0500, a Corsair piloted by 1Lt George W. Grill, Jr., went out of control, crashed into a parked plane, and exploded. As emergency crews tried in vain to save Grill, another explosion was noticed about four miles away from the strip. Minutes later, Condition Red sounded and a handful of Japanese bombs dropped nearby.

The chaos died down and the pilots returned to the field at around 0840. Lieutenant Keister was not with them. By process of elimination, it was determined that the explosion offshore was his aircraft hitting the water.

Robert Keister was declared dead on 2 November 1944. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of first lieutenant.

CENOTAPHS
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial