Robert Flath
September 17, 1919 ~ April 12, 2018
Of Sunrise of McLean, VA, died April 12, 2018. He was born September 17, 1919 in Superior, WI, son of Thomas Flath and Anna Alida Lofsgaard Flath. He was predeceased by his wife, Pearl Norby Flath and his son, Robert Milford Flath. He is survived by his daughter, Donna Flath Carskadon; grandson Edward (Julia) Carskadon of Harrisburg, PA; grandson Nathan (Usha) Flath of Athens, Ga; and five great grandchildren.
In 1941 while a senior studying aeronautical Engineering at the University of Washington, he left college when Pearl Harbor was bombed and enlisted in the Navy. As a fighter pilot with VF-11, Bob flew Hellcats first off Guadalcanal. When the new USS Hornet was commissioned his second tour was off that carrier, now a museum in Alameda, CA.
Following the war Bob and His family were stationed in Qing Dao, China; Guam; Patuxent River, MD; Port Lyautey, Morocco; Naples, Italy; Monterey, CA; Washington, DC; Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada; and they settled in McLean, VA.
Bob returned to college and graduated from George Washington University when his daughter entered American University so he could finish his long abandoned bachelor's degree before she graduated in 1966.
Bob was an officer and a gentleman in every sense of the word. As one, he took care of the men in his plane crews which included successfully belly landing on foam in a Super Constellation damaged in a landing attempt by a copilot in Newfoundland and dissuading unfriendly Mid-East authorities from detaining a crewman who had an Israel passport stamp.
Inurnment will be in Arlington National Cemetery on February 1, 2019 at 1:00 PM.
Please view video below for order of events. For any further questions, please visit https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/
https://youtu.be/mRHGpAfVVto
In 1941 while a senior studying aeronautical Engineering at the University of Washington, he left college when Pearl Harbor was bombed and enlisted in the Navy. As a fighter pilot with VF-11, Bob flew Hellcats first off Guadalcanal. When the new USS Hornet was commissioned his second tour was off that carrier, now a museum in Alameda, CA.
Following the war Bob and His family were stationed in Qing Dao, China; Guam; Patuxent River, MD; Port Lyautey, Morocco; Naples, Italy; Monterey, CA; Washington, DC; Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada; and they settled in McLean, VA.
Bob returned to college and graduated from George Washington University when his daughter entered American University so he could finish his long abandoned bachelor's degree before she graduated in 1966.
Bob was an officer and a gentleman in every sense of the word. As one, he took care of the men in his plane crews which included successfully belly landing on foam in a Super Constellation damaged in a landing attempt by a copilot in Newfoundland and dissuading unfriendly Mid-East authorities from detaining a crewman who had an Israel passport stamp.
Inurnment will be in Arlington National Cemetery on February 1, 2019 at 1:00 PM.
Please view video below for order of events. For any further questions, please visit https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/
https://youtu.be/mRHGpAfVVto
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