The Relief
In late March 1945, Bob led a mission to Berlin with navigator Ben Love. On landing at Polebrook, there was a message waiting: report to the wing commander, Gen. Lacey.
Bob went, and Gen. Lacey told him he was being relieved and going home. Bob protested—the war was almost over, and he longed to get in some flying over the continent without being shot at. He'd dreamed of flying POW evacuation missions, humanitarian flights, and bringing his own airplane back to the states.
But Lacey had no option. Washington had sent some twenty colonels who had spent the war in the Pentagon to the 8th Air Force to get combat experience. Bob had been in theater longer than any other commander. Time to go home.
"After the pronouncement from Gen. Lacey, I went back to my quarters to ponder a bit. I wouldn't be relieved until my replacement showed up, so I had a bit of time."
Finding Ruth
"Ruth and her group had moved to the continent a short while ago but I had no idea where they were. But calling some people I knew at 8th AF, I learned that an agency in Paris kept track of where every organization was."
The next morning, Bob flew to Paris and sent his plane back to Polebrook, telling them he'd let them know when and where to come get him.
The Agency
"So, next morning, I flew to Paris and sent my plane back, telling them I would let them know when and where to come get me. I got a taxi into the city for a couple of packs of cigarettes, and the driver knew where to take me... In any event, there I found out that the 160th Hospital was enroute at the moment from their staging area, to Amiens, France."
Showing them his orders—"written by me, of course"—which allowed him to go wherever he pleased, they gave him a rail pass to Amiens.
Arrival at Dark
"It was just dark when I arrived, and I saw an MP in a jeep parked on the station ramp. I asked him if he knew where the new hospital was and he did know and offered to take me there."
The Reunion
The doctor called for Ruth—she had a visitor.
"And I knew it was the right place when as I walked in the front door, I saw one of the doctors that I knew. He called for Ruth to come down, that she had a visitor."
"I spent the next day there, telling her of my new orders and pledging to write often. Then my plane came in and back to Polebrook I went. My relief was there, and I packed my bags."
The War Was Over
For Bob, the war was over. He took a train to Prestwick and an Air Transport Command C-54 to Washington, with stops at the Azores and Newfoundland. He went to Mississippi for two weeks, then to Miami Beach where he was quartered at the Cadillac Hotel with Thornton Wilder as his roommate.
After a couple weeks in Miami, he got orders to Colorado Springs. After about a month there, he was asked if he'd be interested in forming a new radar bomb scoring unit. He accepted and decided to establish it at Mitchell Field, Long Island.
Why Long Island?
"The main reason for going to the East coast was that I wanted to be as close as possible to where Ruth would land when she returned, which was only a matter of time."
"The reunion was a joyful one."