‘GLAD HE’S FINALLY COMING HOME’

The Story of an American Hero

Early on the morning of Dec. 8, 1941, nine Japanese fighter planes swooped down on Malalag Bay in the Philippines and strafed and sunk two U.S. Navy seaplanes at the very outset of World War II.  All of the Americans escaped unharmed except Ensign Robert G. Tills, 23, of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, who was cut down by machine gun bullets. “Ensign Robert Tills died in the fusillade of bullets from the Japanese strafers, the first American naval officer killed in the defense of the Philippines,” the Naval Historical Center wrote. Continue reading…