Name: Robert Burton BILLINGS
Rank / Rating: ENS-Ensign
Service #: 389368
DOB: Jul 28, 1922
From: Aurora, IL
Parents: Edward Joseph and Catherine Burton Billings
Went Aboard: Sep 1, 1944
Age When Ship Went Down: 23 years, 0 months, 2 days
Spouse:
Children:
Grandchildren:
Bio Submitted By: Carl Fahnestock (Admin)
Date Posted:

Ensign Robert Burton Billings of Aurora, Illinois was born on July 28, 1922. Robert spent his first college year at Purdue and was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He was accepted and transferred to the US Naval Academy for the next three years. Robert’s avocation during his Naval Academy days was golf and guitar. He became a regular member of the rhythm section of the NA-10. Robert was listed and presented in the 1945 version of “LUCKY BAG” - the United States Naval Academy Yearbook. This edition of the yearbook was the Centennial Edition (1845 to 1945).(1) However, the class of 1945 was graduated in June 1944 due to the war. View the “Additional Photos” section below to see his listed photo and information that appeared in the 1945 “LUCKY BAG” yearbook. On Sept 1, 1944, he boarded USS Indianapolis CA-35 for his first and only shipboard assignment. However, less than one year since his graduation from the United States Naval Academy and just two days before his 23rd birthday, Robert was Lost at Sea as a result of the July 30th sinking of USS Indianapolis (CA-35). As a United States Naval Academy graduate who served aboard Indianapolis on that fateful last voyage, Ensign Robert Burton Billings joined eight other naval academy graduates who lost their lives as a result of the July 30, 1945 sinking of the ship. The full list of Annapolis graduates who were Lost at Sea includes: Robert Burton Billings, Ensign Edwin Mason Crouch, Captain Joseph Ambrose Flynn, Commander Robert Huntley Hurst, Lieutenant Johns Hopkins Janney, Commander Stanley Walter Lipski, Commander Harold Clifton Moynelo, Jr., Ensign Michael R. Pessolano, Lieutenant James Douglas Spencer, Lieutenant View the “Additional Photos” section below to see pictures and brief information on those nine officers. (2) (1) - LUCKY BAG Yearbook, United States Naval Academy, 1921 (2) - United States Naval Academy Virtual Memorial Hall, www.usnamemorialhall.org