FILLMANS HEAR A SON MISSING
Second Lieutenant Robert W. Fillman, 19, has been reported missing in action over Germany since Mar.16 according to word received from the war department by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. L.O. Fillman of 663 1/2 Seventeenth st, Des Moines and Stuart, Ia.
In a letter to his parents dated Mar. 13, Lieutenant Fillman said he had been on 11 missions and had been promoted to lead navigator. He also wrote that he had received the Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster.
Lieutenant Fillman attended Lincoln high school until spring of 1940 and was graduated from Stuart high school in 1942.
He enlisted in July 8, 1942 and joined the army air forces the following January. He received his commission in the navigators school in Selman field, La., Aug. 14, 1943 and went overseas last Dec. 8.
Mr. Fillman is employed at Solar Aircraft factory and Mrs. Fillman at the Hutchinson Meadow Gold co. They have two other sons in the army.
Source: The Des Moines Register, April 4, 1944 (photo included)
TOLD FILLMAN IS PRISONER
Word that their son, Second Lieutenant Robert W. Fillman, 20, is a German prisoner of war was received Thursday by Mr. and Mrs. L.O. Fillman, 663 1/2 Seventeenth st. He previously had been reported missing.
He was a navigator on a Flying Fortress which was downed March 16. Six members of the crew were interned in Switzerland.
Lieutenant Fillman was graduated from the Stuart, Ia., high school in 1942, entered the service in 1943 and went overseas in December of 1943.
Two other brothers are in the service. Staff Sergeant Donald K. Fillman, who was recently wounded in action over Europe, and Pvt. Richard D. Fillman of Sioux Falls, S.D.
The family formerly lived at Stuart. The parents now are working a the Solar Aircraft Co in Des Moines.
Source: The Des Moines Register, June 30, 1944 (photo included)
Robert Warren Fillman was born May 1, 1924 to Lawrence Oliver and Fern Matilda Keeney Fillman. He died Oct. 29, 2009 and is buried in Henrietta Cemetery, Dorset, MN.
Lt. Fillman served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps and became a German POW.
Source: ancestry.com
