Robert Elmer Mickadeit was born on April 2, 1923, in Newton, Harvey County, Kansas. He was the son of Frank Edward Mickadeit and Julia Angela LaMere Mickadeit. He was married to Theron Kathryn Parks Mickadeit. He served in the 49th Bomber Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group, as a Flight Officer and Navigator of B-17 #44-6369 during World War II.

On August 29, 1944, the B-17G #44-6369, flown by Lt. Duane Seaman’s crew of the 49th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group, took part in a Fifteenth Air Force bombing raid against the Moravská Ostrava industrial complex in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. The aircraft had only recently entered operational service, delivered in mid-July 1944 and deployed to Amendola Airfield in Italy by early August, before joining long-range attacks on German fuel, rail, and industrial targets. On this mission, later designated Mission 263, nine B-17s from the 2nd Bomb Group came under attack by 89 German fighters, and within twenty minutes, eight of them were shot down over present-day Slovakia and the Czech Republic, with one additional bomber crash-landing in Hungary. During the engagement, Seaman’s aircraft was forced down and crashed near the locality known as “Settini,” approximately one kilometer south of the present memorial marker. Unlike many of the other losses from that day, which resulted in 41 American fatalities, with 28 buried in a mass grave at Slavičín, all members of Seaman’s crew survived the crash but were subsequently taken prisoner and held in German POW camps.

FO Mickadiet was held at Stalag Luft I and ended his military service as a Second Lieutenant. He earned his architecture degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He completed graduate studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of Southern California, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Licensed in both architecture and civil engineering, he worked for several prominent firms before opening his own practice. During the 1960s, he designed numerous public buildings in Lompoc, including facilities for the local school district. His work included the County Housing Authority Building, Miguelito Elementary School, and additions to El Camino Elementary School. He later served as the architect for the District Administration Building. He taught for 25 years at Hancock College in Santa Maria, retiring as department head, and authored two textbooks on building construction. He was also a member of the Winnebago Indian Tribe and a parishioner of La Purísima Catholic Church. Robert died on March 18, 1996, and is now buried in the Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery, Lompoc, Santa Barbara County, California, USA

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.leteckabitvakarpaty.cz