| AN EIGHTH AIR FORCE BOMBER STATION, England--An Army Public relations office is an odd place for an expectant father to be, but it was the scene of the traditional made pacing,
subdued excitement and smoking of many cigarettes for Second Lieutenant Robert W. Bailey of Ypsilanti, Michigan, Bombardier on a B-17 flying fortress. It all started out when he filled in December 17, 1944 as his date of birth date on a routine Public Relations Questionnaire at this Eighth Air Force Bomber Station commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Glendon P. Overing of Orange, Mass. Closer examination revealed more mistakes, but the reason and excuse for it all came out in the space reserved for the names and ages of his children. Lieutenant Bailey had inserted any day now even minutes. When asked to correct his errors, he was surprised to see what he had written, and hastened to change his entries. When asked if he was excited he tried to keep a calm front but finally admitted that he was, "Excited? Happy? Oh, everything rolled into one", and he lit a fresh cigarette from the butt of the old one. Robert Bailey met Inger, his wife, while they were both students at Cleary Business College in Ypsilanti, and it bloomed into a school-boy school-girl romance until they were married in Cheyenne, Wyoming October 18, 1941, about seven months after he entered the army. The 28 year old Bombardier is the son of Mr. And Mrs. Ora Bailey, 605 West Michigan Avenue, in Ypsilanti. His wife, Mrs. Inger Bailey, and the source of all his excitement, resides at 220 Lane Avenue, Iron Mountain Michigan. Prior to entering the military service in March of 1941, Lieutenant Bailey was an inspector at the Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan. |
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