4 Jun 1906

Virginia, Cass County, Illinois, USA

Robert Cunningham Taylor

Charlotte Stryker Taylor

Henry Stryker Taylor

Virginia HS

Virginia, Illinois

Virginia, Cass County

Illinois

1926

1929

Greek

Graduated cum laude. After the war, his brother Henry endowed a scholarship fund in Robert's name for Knox students

Glee Club, Student Council

Phi Gamma Delta

16 Jun 1943

World War II

US Army

36033181

Private First Class, promoted to Sergeant on 16 Nov 1944

B Company, 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division

Upon graduating in 1929, Taylor followed in his father's footsteps and became a banker. The US instituted a peacetime draft in 1940, and Taylor was inducted into the US Army under this draft in May 1941. He quickly advanced in rank and received his commission as Second Lieutenant without having to attend Officer Training School. However, he became frustrated with his duty at a POW (Prisoner of War) camp in Georgia, so he resigned his commission. He was re-inducted into the Army as a private and sent to California for training in anti-aircraft weaponry. After training was complete, he was sent to France in Aug 1944. His division, the 29th, planned secret crossings from Belgium, France, and the Netherlands into Germany, and it was on one of these clandestine passages that Taylor was killed.

KIA / Killed In Action; status was MIA / Missing In Action until 25 Nov 1944

16 Nov 1944

38

In the vicinity of Schauffenberg-Bettendorf-Siersdorf, Germany

Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, Netherlands

Plot D, row 11, grave 9

Purple Heart

Transferred to Knox from Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois; attended graduate school at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts