Robert E. Femoyer's Last Radio Calls Saved His B-17 Squadron

Oct 06 , 2025

Robert E. Femoyer's Last Radio Calls Saved His B-17 Squadron

Robert E. Femoyer’s voice whispered across the crackling radio, steady and clear despite a shattered lung and blood choking every breath. The sky was aflame above Nazi Germany. His B-17 was crippled. The mission was bleeding out fast. Yet he kept calling coordinates—life and death threaded in every transmission—guiding his squadron away from a deadly trap. He carried his dying body for miles in the voice box of salvation.

The Man Behind the Mic

Born in 1921, Robert entered the fight not merely with a rifle or gunner’s turret, but with a strength rooted deeper than steel and scars. Raised in West Virginia, he was a scholar-athlete, a devout believer who knelt often in prayer before heading into the storm. His classmates at Marshall College remembered a young man driven by faith and a fierce sense of duty—not glory, but service.

His Christianity was a scaffold when the world buckled. Femoyer carried Psalm 23 with him into every mission:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…”

That wasn’t just a verse for a Sunday morning. It was armor.

Into the Inferno: The Mission of February 20, 1944

On a bitter winter day, Navigator Second Lieutenant Femoyer climbed aboard the Memphis Belle of the 96th Bomb Group, leading a crucial bombing run over enemy territory near Merseburg, Germany. The target: IG Farben’s synthetic oil plants—lifeblood of the Nazi war machine.

Flak shredded the sky like shrapnel rain. Enemy fighters swarmed. Femoyer’s B-17 took a brutal hit. A bullet tore through his chest, piercing a lung.

Most men would’ve gone silent.

Femoyer, wired into the radio, kept his bearing steady. He refused to break—kept transmitting precise coordinates. His voice was the lifeline, enabling the formation to avoid collisions and heavy enemy concentrations. Every word drained what little strength he had left. His lungs screamed with every strained breath, but he never quit.

Comrades later recalled his voice, faint but piercing: “Keep the formation tight. Don’t let them scatter.”

His guidance saved every bomber in his squadron. When the plane finally limped back to England, Femoyer was rushed to a hospital—too weak to speak, dying but unbroken. He passed two days later.

Medal of Honor: Valor Beyond Death

Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, Femoyer’s citation reads:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, although mortally wounded... he continued to send vital information through the radio, enabling the safe return of the formation.”

Brigadier General E. L. Masson, commanding officer, said:

“Femoyer’s unyielding spirit under fire epitomizes the finest traditions of the United States Army Air Forces... his sacrifice saved his comrades by the closest margin imaginable.”

Not many earn the Medal of Honor; fewer still do it while breathing their last.

Enduring Legacy: The Price and Promise of Sacrifice

Femoyer’s story is a brutal reminder: courage isn’t absence of fear or pain—it’s action despite them. It’s the burned lungs, the last call, the choice to be the unseen hero so others may live to fight another day.

His scars were invisible to most—a silent agony behind steady commands. How many voices go unheard, sacrifices unrecorded? Femoyer’s valor offers no fanfare, only an eternal torch passed to veterans and civilians alike.

In the brutal calculus of war, every second counts. Every voice counts.

“Therefore I endure all things for the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus...” – 2 Timothy 2:10

Robert Femoyer’s sacrifice wasn’t just blood for territory or strategic value. It was an act of faith—faith in his mission, in his brothers-in-arms, and in the God who holds all scars. We honor him not because war is glorious, but because men like him make salvation possible—in war, and in peace.

His voice still echoes. We listen. We remember. We carry on.

Sources

1. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Medal of Honor Recipients: World War II 2. Marshall University Archives, Robert E. Femoyer Papers 3. Air Force Historical Research Agency, 96th Bomb Group Unit History 4. Official Medal of Honor Citation, Robert E. Femoyer, 1944 5. James Bradley, Flags of Our Fathers, Little, Brown and Company