Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1948 Lucky Bag:

Robert Wendell Helding

When the icy winter winds whip across Bancroft terrace and someone yells, “Collars down,” that’s the Bear. Maryland winters don’t even make him shiver compared with a real Wisconsin winter. Bob came here as a Boilermaker from Purdue Univ. and seems to do everything without a strain. He is always happy and conducts a famous one man advertising campaign for a certain Janesville pen manufacturer that sells the ‘51.’ His favorite indoor sport is hibernating, but he is a husky opponent on the athletic field where he feels very much at home. Bob fits well into the tradition that Wisconsin sends fine men to the Academy.

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He graduated with the class of 1948-A, the last of the wartime-accelerated classes, in June 1947. (The bottom half of the class by academic standing, designated 1948-B, completed an extra year and graduated in June 1948.)

Loss

From McKinney Daily Courier-Gazette (Texas) on February 20, 1952:

The Corpus Christi air station has identified the six Navy airmen who were killed when two training planes collided in mid-air near Rockport, Tex. Victims were listed as Ensign Mahlon Devere Busha, Jr.. of Sherwood. Ore.; Lieut. Cmdr. M alter Thomas Fitzpatrick. Jr.. Texarkana, Lieut. (JG) Frederick Eugene Arthur of Redwood. Calif., Ensign Neil August Armstrong II of Chalmette, La., First Lieut. Robert Wendell Helding, Marine Corps, Janesville, Wis., and Lt. (JG) Frederick Jeffrie Blodgett of St. Paul, Minn.

The crash was on February 18, 1952.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert won the DAR American history medal at William Horlick High School. He planned to study metallurgical engineering. In June 1943, Robert was among the highest ranking scholastic students at Purdue.

He was appointed to the Naval Academy by Congressman Lawrence H. Smith. After graduation, he reported to the Marine school at Quantico, Virginia. He was married to Doris M. Preshek on September 4, 1948.

In November 1948, he was stationed on Guam. Finally, in May 1949, quarters were ready for his wife to join him there. In September 1950, he started basic flight training at Pensacola. In May 1951, Robert started his training in instrument and night flying.

He had a military memorial service in Corpus Christi. After a full military funeral, he was buried in West Lawn Memorial Cemetery, Mount Pleasant, Racine, Wisconsin.

He was survived by his wife, parents Mr. O. C. (Chris) and Mrs. Martha Helding, one brother Norman, and sister Elizabeth (Mrs. Kenneth Goepfert) of Racine. His father was a toolmaker for the telephone company in 1930, was a foreman for a farm implement manufacturer in 1940, and head of the engineering department for Parker Pen Company for the next 15 years. He died in 1957, and his wife in 1960. They are both buried in West Lawn Memorial Cemetery, too.

Photographs

"Horlick high school students receiving awards were, left to right, Don Cooks, Robert Helding, Frank Ruzicka, Jr., and center, Bertha Shapiro." From The Journal Times on January 14, 1942

From the Janesville Daily Gazette on June 3, 1947

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Frederick Blodgett ‘49 was also lost in this crash.