1ST. LT. U. S. A. F. 072708/SON OF/
GEORGE P. & MARTHA R. JENKINS/AUG. 19, 1921-DEC. 15, 1942/
KILLED IN ACTION AND BURIED IN/BAY OF TUNIS, NORTH AFRICA.
LT. JENKINS' WWII BOMBER WAS SHOT DOWN NEAR/BIZERTE, TUNISIA ON DEC. 15, 1942. THE PLANE/QAS DISCOVERED ON LAKE TUNIS IN OV. 2000./THE US ARMY RECOVERED,/IDENTIFIED AND RETURNED HIS REMAINS./A FUNERAL SERVICE , WITH FULL MILITARY HONORS,/WAS HELD HERE ON JUNE 8, 2003.
First Lt. Robert Boyce Jenkins, 21, died December 15, 1942 in Bizerte, Tunisia.
Robert Jenkins was born August 19, 1921 in Laurens, South Carolina to the late George Pressley Jenkins and Martha Riddle Jenkins Forbis. He was educated in the Charlotte, North Carolina schools and was a 1938 graduate of the old Central High School. He was a member of Westminster (now Covenant) Presbyterian Church. He worked for a cotton broker. A member of the Civil Air Patrol, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He served at Barksdale Field, California; Napier Field, Louisania; England and North Africa. He received the Air Medal after five sorties and was promoted to first lieutenant the day before his final mission. He served as a replacement with another crew for the final sortie.
On December 15, 1942, First Lieutenant Robert Jenkins was aboard a B-26 Marauder on a mission to bomb a German-held airfield near Tunis, Tunisia. After completing its bomb run, the aircraft was struck by enemy anti-aircraft fire and crashed into water thought to be the Bay of Bizerte. A search of the area found nothing and Robert Jenkins, presumed killed in action, was later included on a marker in the North Africa Army Cemetery.
In November 2000, during the dredging of Lake Tunis, the plane was found. The human remains of the six soldiers were carefully recovered, returned to the United States, and identified. The remains not identified with a particular individual were in a common grave with full military honors in Arlington Cemetery on April 24, 2003.
In 1942, Rob Jenkins was survived by his parents, his older sister, Helen, his older brother, George Pressley Jenkins, Jr., and his younger sister, Mary Elizabeth Jenkins Williams (Betty); but today he is survived only by Helen Jenkins Jackson of York, South Carolina, and the descendants of his three siblings.
The funeral was held at Bethel Presbyterian Church, Clover, SC with the Rev. Todd Speed and Army Chaplin Maj. Shurtleff from Fort Jackson officiating. Burial was in Bethel Church Cemetery with full military honors.
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