WW2 Ruhr Valley Fallen - David Robbins, 86th Infantry Division

PFC David Robbins served in the 86th Infantry Division in the Ruhr Valley.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73154917/david-mckendrick-robbins
http://www.usww2uniforms.com/aSlides86th.html

David McKendrick Robbins never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

 

David was born on July 16, 1920 in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents Oliver and Ruth (McKendrick) were born in Indiana and Utah, respectively. His father worked as a furniture store truck driver. David had two younger sisters. He graduated from East High School and worked for American Smelting Refining and Mining Company. By 1940 he married Winefred Smith. They had two daughters.

He enlisted in the army four days after D-Day on June 10, 1944. He became a private first class in the 343rd Infantry Regiment, 86th Infantry Division. The 86th ID did not get to Europe until March 1945. It was sent to the front line in the Ruhr Valley.

PFC Robbins was killed in action on April 13, 1945 while trying to clear out an enemy sniper's nest.

His grave is at Salt Lake City Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Thank you PFC Robbins for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for David.

This is one of the final 50 stories (49) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.

Last year on this date I profiled B-25 pilot Wilson Pinkstaff. You can read about Wilson 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!

I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.

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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org