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Major <em>Robert Blake Lothrop</em>, the son of Captain James Norris Lothrop, United States Army, retired, was born at Fort Baker, California on January 14, 1907. He was the eldest of a family of six children. Even at the adolescent age of thirteen he had the ambition of going to West Point and becoming a regular army officer. He clung firmly to that desire through his elementary schooling and when a senior in high school in Washington, D.C., he took the West Point examination. He passed the examination, not high enough, however, to enter West Point then on a competitive basis. Upon graduating from high school he attended the Schadman Preparatory School for one year and then entered West Point in June, 1926.</p>
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Bob’s career at the Point was colorful in so far as participation in activities was concerned. He possessed an unlimited amount of energy and I believe his classmates ably described him in the Howitzer year book by saying. “Bob is an intense bundle of energy. If you want to laugh, gripe, talk or indulge in horseplay with ‘much gusto’ just make his acquaintance.” He won his letter in gymnastics, and he was active also in Engineer football, rifle and pistol marksmanship, the <em>Howitzer</em>, and the Cadet Choir. He was captain of “G” Company in his fourth year and received honor stars upon graduation. He graduated in 1930, standing twelfth in his class. Upon graduation he received his commission in the Corps of Engineers.</p>
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Bob’s first assignment was at Wilmington, North Carolina on river and harbor work. He was there for two years, then he was sent to Cornell University for a course in engineering. He received his degree at Cornell in 1933. His next assignment was troop duty for two years at Fort Du Pont, Delaware. Then he was sent to the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir. About 1936 he went to the University of Illinois where he was an Instructor in the R.O.T.C. for four years.</p>
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Bob married about a year after graduation from West Point. He married Miss Harriette Burke, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Burke of Newburgh, New York. Their first child, Robert Blake, Jr., was born in May of 1933. He died in January, 1943 while his father was a prisoner of war. A daughter, Joanne Marie, was born in February 1936.</p>
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In 1940 Bob was ordered to the Philippine Islands. He was assigned to troop duty with the 14th Engineers at Fort McKinley. He took his family with him, but by the end of the first year there they were ordered home. Bob found it difficult to send them back for he was definitely a lover of home and a family man. His letters to his home folks reflected the loneliness in his heart, but he tried to absorb himself in the work to which he was devoted. In September he was ordered to Corregidor as Assistant Engineer Officer in Local Charge of Fortification Work in the Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays. He was on Corregidor at the time of the fateful attack on December 7, 1941.</p>
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From all reports that sifted through, Bob, throughout the invasion of the enemy, conducted himself as a true soldier. He received the Purple Heart, and he also received the Silver Star for his courageous defense of vital utilities in the face of enemy fire. After surrender the story is a sad one. It is one that grips at the hearts of all true patriots. The humiliations, the heartaches, the unhappy existence of a prisoner of war called upon all the heroic courage that any strong man could possibly possess. However, through vague channels came the word that Bob had survived it all remarkably well. Then came the report from the War Department that Bob had been lost on a prison ship. It was reported sunk on the twenty-fourth of October, 1944.</p>
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The memory of Major Robert Blake Lothrop remains deeply entrenched in the hearts of all who knew him; and through his devoted service to his country he demonstrated at all times that he had clung closely to the traditions and training of his beloved West Point.</p>
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