Robert O. Watson was born on November 6, 1908 in Washington. He enlisted 10 March 1942 at Ft MacArthur San Pedro CA, and was living at San Diego CA at the time. His plane, B-24J #42-73242 ‘Haley's Comet', and its crew were assigned to the 308th Bombardment Group, 425th Bombardment Squadron. They took off from Kunming Airfield in China on a routine flight to Chabua Airfield in India. Three planes and crews were lost that day. In the book ‘China Up And Down' by John T. Foster, he writes, ‘Disastrous Day Over Hump!' The plane was named after Lt Roger P Haley, Pilot, who was not on the plane the day it went missing. Instead, his replacement was Major Harry Musinski.

The wreckage of this aircraft was located January 2011 by Clayton Kuhles of miarecoveries.org in Damrah, Arunchal Pradesh State, India. Ssgt Watson's name is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is also commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China but death date is inscribed as 1944-01-25. He was a passenger of the aircraft at the time of his death.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov