Greeley H. Robbins was one of three brothers who served in WW2. He was born in 1919. His other brothers were Ensign Daniel M. Robbins, USN, born 1915, and Sgt. Irvin L. Robbins, 4th Air Force, born 1921. All were born to Charles and Laura Robbins of Armada, Nebraska. See the other writeups for the two brothers.
Greeley Robbins enlisted in the regular US Navy August 20, 1940, and was first assigned to the USS Idaho. On December 5, 1940, he was transferred to the USS Chicago. He was lost when the USS Chicago was torpedoed and sunk in the battle of the Rennell Islands on January 29 and 30, 1943. On the 29th she was disabled by a submarine torpedo and taken in tow. The next day she was hit agaon while under tow and sunk.
The muster rolls for the Chicago slows Greeley as F1c on December 31, 1942; but other references list him as MM3c. He was one of only 56 enlisted men killed out of a crew of over 1000. One of the quirks of this group is that Greeley's first and middle name are different in some references. His name in early census data is "Greely", but his name in Navy Rolls is "Greeley". Also, his middle name in Navy Rolls is listed as "Horuse", whereas some personal data in the group shows it as "Hourice". It is believed that the Navy nomenclature is correct.
Greeley Robbins' medal group includes his officially engraved posthumous Type 1 Purple Heart as made by the US Mint and his posthumous undated Navy Good Conduct Medal. Also included is an American Defense Medal with two loose bars-Base and Fleet. Accompanying the group is a photo of Greeley with his dog, mounted on a piece of plywood by his family. All of the pictures in the entire group are mounted that way. Also in the group is a Mexican Border Service ribbon which may have belonged to his father. This large group includes his brothers' artifacts as well, shown on this website under their names.
