Robert Henry Doolan

Robert Henry Doolan was a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II before being captured by the Germans.

Doolan was born and raised in the West End, Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from St. Xavier High School in 1935. After Doolan returned from the war he married Dolores Doolan and completed a Bachelor's Degree in civil engineering. In March 2017, Doolan celebrated his 100th birthday.

Doolan enlisted in the Army Air Corps in the summer of 1941, but washed out of pilot school and was instated at graduation as a second lieutenant navigator. Doolan was a member of the 326th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Bomb Group (H), in the 8th Air Force, achieving the rank of First Lieutenant at the end of his tour of duty. He took part in 12 combat missions from January to August 1943 when he was shoot down on his 13th mission.

Captivity

After the failure of the 13th mission Doolan and another airman spent 21 days attempting to escape the Netherlands, with aid by the Dutch resistance, before being captured and taken to a prison camp. Doolan recalled "The next day we were going to go into Belgium, and we got word that our pilot made it to France and was captured, the two gunners had made it into Belgium and were captured. So there was a good chance our next safe house is compromised."

He spent two years in the Stalag Luft III prison camp which was made famous by the 1963 film The Great Escape. Doolan was evacuated from the camp with other POW's in January 1945 by the Germans to avoid the Soviet Red Army where they were marched and moved by train cars to a new camp at Moosburg, Germany. The Moosburg prison camp was liberated by General George Patton and Doolan returned to the United States in 1945.