ALBEN C. ROBERTSON, LTCOL, USMC

Alben Robertson '37

Date of birth: January 1, 1915

Date of death: December 10, 1946

Age: 31

Lucky Bag

From the 1937 Lucky Bag:

ALBEN COTNER ROBERTSON

Fulton, Kentucky

"Al" "Kobby"

Robby is a rosy-cheeked, cheerful sort of person. He soon showed a very marked tendency toward what he maintains to be the traditional policy of Kentuckians; he is a dyed-in-the-wool snake, and hopes some day to find the ideal girl-—by the process of elimination. His academic efficiency is high; he gets a gratifying output with a minimum of input. Next to love for femininity, Robby's worst fault is his passion for playing radios and crooning to the accompaniment provided. He is a master of the tennis racquet and the golf club, a bridge expert, and a smooth dancer.

Golf 3, 2, 1. Gym 4, 3, 2, 1. Star. One Stripe.

ALBEN COTNER ROBERTSON

Fulton, Kentucky

"Al" "Kobby"

Robby is a rosy-cheeked, cheerful sort of person. He soon showed a very marked tendency toward what he maintains to be the traditional policy of Kentuckians; he is a dyed-in-the-wool snake, and hopes some day to find the ideal girl-—by the process of elimination. His academic efficiency is high; he gets a gratifying output with a minimum of input. Next to love for femininity, Robby's worst fault is his passion for playing radios and crooning to the accompaniment provided. He is a master of the tennis racquet and the golf club, a bridge expert, and a smooth dancer.

Golf 3, 2, 1. Gym 4, 3, 2, 1. Star. One Stripe.

Loss

Alben was lost on December 10, 1946 when the transport plane he was co-piloting crashed into Mt. Rainier, Washington.

Other Information

From Find A Grave:

Captain A. C. Robertson, USMC, was designated Naval Aviator #16403 in 1942. Graduated U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1937.
Lt. Col. Robertson was the co-pilot of a Curtis R5C Commando transport plane, on a flight from San Diego to Seattle, which crashed during bad weather on 10 December 1946 into Mount Rainier, killing all 32 U.S. Marines aboard.
His body along with the others who lost their lives on that flight all remain entombed in ice on Mount Rainier.
Recovery efforts were called off when it was decided that it would be nearly impossible to recover the bodies and the risk for the rescuers was too high.

He was survived by his wife, two sons, and his parents.

Earlier in 1946 he won the golf championship at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa.

Details of the flight and attempted recovery efforts are in this article.

Photographs

From the Miami Herald on December 16, 1946. Located by Kathy Franz.

Career

From naval aviation historian Richard Leonard:

6/3/1940 - 1LT USMC - Date of rank from 1 July 1941 Register
1/20/1942 - 1LT USMC - NAS Pensacola designated Naval Aviator # 16403
2/2/1942 - CPT USMC - Date of rank 1942 Register
8/7/1942 - MAJ USMC - Date of rank 1943 Register
8/9/1943 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 / redesignated from VMSB-134 (2d CO) MCAS Santa Barbara
10/18/1943 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) in transit
11/1/1943 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) MCAF Espiritu Santo New Hebrides
11/25/1943 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) Munda New Georgia
12/31/1943 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) MCAF Espiritu Santo New Hebrides
2/13/1944 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) Torokina Bougainville
2/17/1944 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) Torokina Bougainville. Shipping attack Keravia Bay this date: Led first forward-firing rocket mission in SoPac Theater; Robertson reported, ". . . two shorts, two hits, and two longs on an AK, two solid hits at the waterline, two HE on the side of the vessel, and two overshot."
3/15/1944 - MAJ USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) Ocean Airfield Nissan Green Islands
5/5/1944 - LTC USMC - Date of rank 1944 Register
5/8/1944 - LTC USMC - VMTB-134 (CO) MCAF Espiritu Santo New Hebrides
7/1/1944 - LTC USMC - VMTB-134 detached transf FA ComMarFAirWest Coast
10/18/1944 - LTC USMC - MBDAG-48 (CO) MCAS Santa Barbara
11/5/1944 - LTC USMC - MASG-48 (CO) MCAS Santa Barbara (redesignated from MBDAG-48)

Distinguished Flying Cross

From Hall of Valor:

Alben C. Robertson (MCSN: 0-5564), United States Marine Corps, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight, in actions against enemy Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
General Orders: Heroes U.S. Marine Corps 1861 - 1955 (Jane Blakeney)
Action Date: World War II
Service: Marine Corps

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.