2nd Lt. Robert Carter Snow was born in Chicago on March 10, 1922, to Walter H. Snow and Helen Hawkins-Snow, and had a sister and a brother. His family resided at 1017 South 24th Avenue, Bellwood, Illinois. He graduated from Wilson School, Bellwood, and Proviso Township High School, Maywood, in 1940. After high school he attended Oberlin College, Ohio, for two years and transferred to the University of Illinois for the 1942 – 1943 school year.
He registered with Selective Service on June 29, 1942, and named his mother as his contact person. He enlisted in the US Army on March 1, 1943. Since he scored 110, or higher, on the Army General Classification Test he was given the opportunity to train as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. It is known he trained at the following places: Williams Field, Chandler, Arizona, Army Air Force Flying School, and Moses Lake Army Airfield, Moses Lake, Washington, fighter pilot training. He was commissioned second lieutenant, on March 2, 1944, and given the serial number O 769 973. It is known he then trained in California.
In April 1944, he received a furlough and visited his family. He returned to Moses Lake, Washington, for additional training before receiving his orders to go overseas.. According to one story, on June 30, 1944, the plane Robert was flying was involved in a mid-air collision. In another story of his plane’s crash, it stated that his was waiting orders to go overseas and he was flying his P-38 eight miles from his base at Moses Lake, Washington, when his plane crash. It also was stated that he had turned off the plane’s ignition before crashing. He may have done this to prevent a fire while attempting to land the plane, since it was reported there had been no fire when the plane’s wreckage was found. His family received a telegram, the same day, telling them that Robert had died in a plane crash. His father – who was working in Newport News, Virginia – received the news and returned to Maywood.
2nd Lt. Robert C. Snow casket was sent to the Suburban Funeral Home, Maywood. and he was buried at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois, on July 6, 1944.
