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Date of Birth: 4-Dec-27
Died On: 15 JUN 1951
Street Address: 23 Goldwin Street
Branch of Service: U.S. Army -72nd Truc k Company of the 24th Truck Battalion
Robert Stanley Banks was born on December 4th, 1927 in Portchester, New York son of Williiam A. Banks Sr. and Ethel Griffin Banks. He had a brother William and a sister Oriel.
The family lived at 23 Goldwin Street in Rye and Robert attended Rye High School. In High School, Robert played for the varsity football team and ran for the track team. Robert also spent two years as an assistant manager for the track team and graduated in 1946.
Before the Korean War, Robert was a member of the Bethesda Baptist Church in Port Chester. He was a part of the Westchester Riding Club, the Negro Political League of Port Chester, and the Clef Club.
Robert was employed by the Port Chester Paper and Box Company on Irving Ave for five years. He joined the firm as a truck driver but at the time he was drafted was a shop foreman.
Robert was drafted into the U.S. Army September 28th, 1950. While in training he was voted “The best soldier in his company” and for this received a special seal of approval from his general.
Soon after he was sent to Germany and stationed with the 72nd Truck Company of the 24th Truck Battalion at Lierkersheim.
His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Williiam A. Banks Sr., of Port Chester, learned through a War Department telegram that their son Corporal Robert S. Banks was drowned in the Nieder River, Germany.
The telegram from the War Department stated he drowned “when current apparently too strong ” carried him under. His parents were told that a thorough investigation of the drowning is being conducted. Robert died on June 15, 1951, in Germany. He was twenty-two years old.
Robert Stanley Banks remains were returned home in September 1951 and he was buried at Greenwood Union Cemetery in Rye, NY.
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