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| Robert LaMotte and the crew of the B-24 Lady Be Good were lost in the Sahara Desert for 15 years. |
Robert was born on December 14, 1918 in Michigan. His parents John and Alvina were also born in Michigan. He had four older brothers, one older sister, and two younger brothers. His father worked as a laborer in a copper mill and as a repairman. In 1940, Robert was living at home with his parents and working as a farm hand.
Robert enlisted in the US Army Air Forces in March 17, 1942 and was eventually assigned to the 514th Bomber Squadron of the 376th Bombardment Group, Ninth Air Force stationed at Soluch Field, near Benghazi, Libya.
On April 4, 1943 T/Sgt LaMotte was the radio operator of a brand new crew on their first combat mission, flying aboard B-24D Liberator heavy bomber Lady Be Good. They were part of a group of twenty-five B-24s assigned to fly across the Mediterranean to bomb the harbor at Naples, Italy at dusk and then return to base under cover of darkness. Mechanical difficulties, high winds, and poor visibility hampered the mission, with only two of the aircraft reaching the intended target. As Lady Be Good headed for home in the darkness, the inexperienced crew became lost and eventually overflew their home base, continuing south for over 400 miles into the Sahara desert. Once the bomber began to run out of fuel in the early morning hours of April 5, the crew had no choice but to bail out. A search and rescue mission was launched from Soluch field but no trace of the bomber or her crew could be found. The disappearance of the Lady Be Good was to remain a mystery for over fifteen years.
In November 1958 a British oil exploration team flying over an area known as the impassible Libyan Sand Sea sighted the mostly intact wreckage of what appeared to be a large bomber and reported it to US military authorities. A recovery team was dispatched in May 1959 to the wreck site and identified it as the Lady Be Good. The aircraft was found to be broken into two pieces, but was immaculately preserved, with functioning machine guns, a working radio, and some supplies of food and water aboard. The recovery team searched for several months but found no human remains aboard or in the vicinity of the crash site.
In February 1960 the US military began a formal search of the surrounding area, and eventually located the remains of eight of the nine crewmembers of the Lady Be Good, including T/Sgt LaMotte. A diary found with the remains of the co-pilot revealed that the survivors had managed to locate each other after bailing out and attempted to walk north out of the desert, erroneously thinking they were close to the Mediterranean coast. The group had only a few food rations and a single canteen of water among them, and after covering over 50 miles in eight days, one by one they succumbed to the desert.
Robert Edwin LaMotte is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Lake Linden, Michigan. A monument to Robert and the crew of the Lady Be Good, including one of her propellers, is on display in front of the village hall in Lake Linden.
Thank you Robert for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Robert.
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This profile was written by Bob Fuerst. "I’m a NASA engineer, B-17 Flying Fortress enthusiast, and amateur genealogist so this kind of research is an ideal outlet for me. But more than anything, it’s a way to express my sincere appreciation for The Greatest Generation and the sacrifices that they made, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They should never be forgotten and I’m grateful to Don for allowing me to play a small part in honoring them."
Last year on this date I profiled Submariner Hugh McKnight of the USS Robalo. You can read about Hugh here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
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