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<em>Robert Kinzie McDonough</em> was born at West Point on 26 April 1904. He was truly a native son of the Academy. His father, stationed at West Point at the time, was of the Class of 1899 and his mother was the daughter of Brigadier General David H. Kinzie of the Class of 1863, who resigned to accept a commission in the Regular Army in 1861. Robert was appointed to the Military Academy from the New Mexico Military Institute, an honor school, in 1922.</p>
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According to his Howitzer, very early in his career, Pinkie, as he was known to his close friends and classmates, began to gain renown as a distinguished rifleman. He became captain of the Academy rifle team, winning two minor A’s. He was sports editor of <em>The Pointer</em> and had an active interest in The 100th Night Show. His fame as a gymnast, according to a classmate’s version of his cadet activities, came about by “boning much bunk drill. He was an engineer by nature. Morning, noon, and night we find him preparing for class with the assistance of that all-embracing technical handbook, <em>Adventure</em>.”</p>
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Robert was commissioned a second lieutenant, Signal Corps, upon graduation 12 June 1926, but his engineer instincts and aptitude enabled him to transfer to the Corps of Engineers, 3 August 1926. His was undoubtedly the shortest career in the Signal Corps for any officer before or since. Robert's engineering career began at Fort Humphreys, Virginia, now Fort Belvoir, with the 13th Engineers. Two years later he was a student at Cornell University where he graduated in 1929 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. Returning to Fort Humphreys, he attended the Company Officers Course. In 1930 he competed in the National Rifle Matches and later that year joined the 3rd Engineers at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. He was Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics at the University of Illinois when he met and married Nancy Alice James in 1934. While in the Tulsa Engineer District in charge of construction of the flood control project at Fort Supply, Oklahoma, he received orders to Trinidad, British West Indies, to build American military air bases.</p>
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Two years later he was on his way to England for duty with ETOUSA Engineer Section. Soon thereafter, he would command an engineer regiment clearing beach obstacles for the Normandy Invasion. His 112th Engineers received fourteen Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroic efforts at Omaha Beach. He fought the war in Europe with the V Corps from Normandy to the Rhine through France, Belgium, and into Germany and Luxemburg. After the war, following stateside tours at Fort Lewis, Washington, and at the Infantry School, Robert served in the Korean Conflict as Engineer of the US X Corps, of X Corps Group, which had operational control of three Korean corps, and as Engineer, Eighth Army. He thus occupied successively the most important US Corps of Engineers positions in Korea.</p>
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Robert concluded his active duty career in the South Atlantic Engineer Division at Atlanta, retiring in 1956. His decorations include two Legions of Merit, three Bronze Stars, the Order of the British Empire, the French Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre with Palm, the Belgium Order of Leopold and Croix de Guerre with Palm, the Luxemburg Couronne de Chene and Croix de Guerre.</p>
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After his retirement from the Army, Robert was for seventeen years an engineer with Lockheed Corporation, Marietta, Georgia, and a long-time director and vice president of the Atlanta Association for Retarded Children.</p>
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Of Robert's personal qualities, quite apart from his distinguished military and civilian career, one retired general officer writes: “Robert exemplified for me all that was and is best in the Old Old Army and in the Military Academy and its product—the sense of almost noblesse oblige; the instant willingness and readiness to undertake any task ‘without fear, favor, or the hope of reward;’ the constant devotion to duty; the highest standards of conduct and performance. And with this Robert was warm and outgoing - spontaneously friendly, cheerful, and helpful. I first encountered him when I was a plebe and he was a first classman on the New Cadet (Beast) Detail. My immediate reaction to his presence and conduct in that duty was: ‘This is one great guy.’ Over a period of fifty-nine years there occurred no reason to change that judgment or to doubt its validity.”</p>
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Robert’s wife, Nancy Alice, preceded him in death in 1982. He is survived by two sons, David and Michael, both of Statesboro, Georgia; a daughter, Mrs. Sheila M. Reese, Woodbridge, Virginia 22192; two grandchildren; and by a sister, Mrs. John S. Nesbitt, Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815.</p>
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<em>P.R.W. and a friend</em></p>