Robert Victor Pollock

M, b. 23 April 1914, d. 13 February 2007
     Robert was born on Thursday, 23 April 1914 at Merrill Street, Birmingham, Oakland County, Michigan. Birth Certificate: Victor 38 & Ethyl 26, birth certificate in error with a birth date of 25 April. On 17 May 1914, he was christened at St. Mary's Church, Royal Oak, Oakland County, Michigan; Father Needhem performed the rite, godparents were George & Annie Randall. 1920, Robert was listed on the US Federal Census . Enumerated in this household were Victor M. Pollock [38 Canada], Ethel M. [31 Canada], Robert V. [5 Michigan], Phillip M. [6 mos. Michigan], William L. Farmer [64 Ohio]. They lived at 142 S. Woodward Ave. [Volume 73; Enum. Dist. 161; sheet 37; line 44]
On 14 December 1934, he began working for the Detroit Edison Company. He served in the Air Force between 2 January 1943 & 6 March 1946.1 Robert married JoAnn Virginia Howell, daughter of Rice Alva Howell and Lucile Viola Leggett, on 30 May 1941 in Birmingham at Holy Name Church Rectory. Father David J.Duncan performed the ceremony in the rectory of Holy Name. Billie Howell and Phillip Pollock stood up for the couple. On 30 May 1941, Robert & JoAnn resided at the Birmingham Manor Apartments at 327 Southfield. On 1 October 1950, they moved into their new home they had built at 695 Hanna Street, Birmingham. In 1951, they moved to 588 Southfield, Birmingham, the home in which JoAnn had been raised. In September of 1963, they moved to a smaller home at 917 South Glenhurst Drive, Birmingham. Bob retired from the Detroit Edison Company Retired 1 May 1979.
 Robert departed this life on Tuesday, 13 February 2007 in Rochester, Oakland County, Michigan, at The Mercy Bellbrook Retirement Center.

Family

JoAnn Virginia Howell b. 3 Oct 1919, d. 3 Jun 1992

Citations

  1. [S33] Note, Bob served in the Air Force between 2 January 1943 & 6 March 1946. He was inducted at Battle Creek. He was sent to St Petersburg, FL for Basic Training. He was first stationed at Harris Neck, St. Catherine's Island where he was taught Plane recognition. He spent time at Waycross, Georgia airfield where p-39's were used to train pilots. Bob and his friend Harry, where in town and spotted their wives, JoAnn and Juanita Mudge, walking toward them. They had come as a surprise visit, while there, JoAnn met a Sergeant assigned to personnel who was living near them there at the base. He asked JoAnn where Bob would like to be stationed, she said Hollywood, and soon Bob was sent to Hollywood. The unfortunate part of the transfer was the transport to California. He was sent on a troop train, which consisted of box cars with men loaded in much like cattle. They had no room to lay down, thus were forced to stand the entire trip. They had stop overs at Key Field in Mississippi, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While on the train there was no food or water available leaving the troops weak and dehydrated when they did arrive at a base. Because of the conditions, and poor food preparation, many of the troops suffered from food poisoning and bed bug bites, when arriving at a stop west of Baton Rouge, Bob and most of the others literally crawled out of the cars. Once arriving in Hollywood, things became much better. Bob stayed at the Embassy Hotel while going to school at Southeastern. In the evenings he entertained himself by going to live performances of the Big Bands that were in town. One evening he went to the popular night club, Florentine Gardens. The club was very crowded and he ended up being seated next to the dance floor. At sometime during his stay, he saw Johnny Weissmueller drunk at a bar at lunch time. After his schooling, he was sent to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, in South Carolina; he was assigned as an investigator, but stayed only a short time before being stationed at Sufferage Field until March of 1945. He was then transferred to Lynn, Massachusetts, he stayed there for a month, then moved to Arye, Mass. (Fort Devens POW camp) and remained there until he was discharged. His assignment at the camp was to find where the missing POW's were and how they were getting out of the camp. The mystery was solved when it was discovered that the cook staff, women from the civilian community, many of them single, were taking the POW's home with them and boarding them in their homes. While stationed here, Bob received orders to go overseas, but the war ended before he was shipped. [autobiographical given orally to his daughter, Kathleen, 23 April 2003]