Flynn and Related Families

Robert Perkins Post was a war correspondent for the New York Times in Europe during World War II. He was killed while riding as an observer on a bombing mission over Germany. His plane was shot down near Bad Zwischenahn, Germany on a mission to bomb Wilhelmshaven. He was initially buried in Bad Zwischenhan where, after an intensive effort by his father, his remains were located and subsequently relocated to the U.S. Military Cemetery at Neuville-en-Condroz [now called Neupre], Belgium.

From "Islip Town's World War II Effort" by Nathaniel R Howell: Robert P. Post, War Correspondent, with the 8th Air Force, son of Waldron K. Post and the late Mrs. Post of Bayport, was born September 8, 1910 at Bayport. He attended the public school in Bayport and later the Lawrence School in Hewlett, NY. He then went to St. Paul's School in Concord, NH. In 1932 he graduated from Harvard with the degree of A.B. During his summer vacations he worked as a cub reporter on the Putnam Patriot and the Evening World in New York. After graduation he worked on the Boston American for several months and then went to The New York Times in Washington, where he was White House Correspondent in 1936 and 1937. On January 2, 1938, Post was transferred to the London Bureau of the New York Times. During this assignment he went through the Battle of Britain. He returned to the States in July, 1942 and again sailed to the European theater the following December. With the London Bureau he went through intensive training in how to operate a parachute and how to get in and out of rubber boats. He had been on an active assignment at a station for ten days and in a daylight bomber raid over Wilhemshaven met the enemy. His plane was shot down on February 26, 1943. After the war, his body was found in a cemetery at Oldenburgh and transferred to a U.S. Cemetery in Belgium.