Robert “Rusty” Eugene Copeland

November 2, 1922 - February 10, 2015

Rusty was born in Chillon, Texas, to John and Mary Copeland. He grew up in Waco, and attended Gholson High School. Even as a boy, Rusty was serious about his Christian faith. According to his obituary, Rusty became a Christian at age 12 and was "baptized in a gravel pit in Falls County".  

Prior to joining the Army in June of 1942, he worked for Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (aka Convair) of San Diego, California, and was involved with the manufacturing of Catalina bombers (pictured, below) [1]

He went on to serve his country in the United States Army Air Corps [2] during WWII, as a B-24 "Liberator" and B-29 "Superfortress" gunner. [3]  Training at Buckingham Army Air Field at Fort Myers, Florida, Rusty mastered the B-29's computer-aided, remote control, aerial gunner system, which was the first of its kind.  On this system, a single gunner could even operate two or more turrets from a remote station and at the same time, and remotely take over another station if one of the other gunners was disabled.

His plane crash-landed in German territory after being hit by ground-based anti-aircraft fire during a bombing raid in the vicinity of Aachen on the night of 28/29 November, 1944. He was captured and sent to Stalag 7-A in Moosburg, Germany.

On March 16, 1945, Rusty and 19 others from Stalag 7-A was transferred to a small farm work camp in Nussdorf, along with 19 other POWs.

Nussdorf am Inn

He remained in the Army and continued training at Fr. Myers, Florida, for a potential re-deployment to the Pacific theater. As the reader can see from the newspaper clipping from August 14, 1945, Rusty was training on B-29s.  Fortunately, by that time the war was over. His term of service ended in April of 1946 and he was honorably discharged at Fort Sam Houston after being promoted to corporal. [4] 

In the summer of 1946 he enrolled at Baylor University and met the love of his life, Lillian "Glendene" Martin. Rusty and Glendene were married April 4, 1947. Rusty graduated in 1950 with a BS in chemistry, which paved the way for a long career in the oil and gas industry as a chemical engineer. [5]

Rusty and Glendene had two children, Charlotte and Robert "Bob" (1st picture below).  Rusty was active in his community after the war, particularly as a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church, where he gave a few talks over the years about his wartime experiences, including his time as a POW at Stalag 7-A and Nussdorf. [6]  

[1] Robert Eugene Copeland - Draft Registration Cards for Texas, 10/16/1940 - 03/31/1947 (Roll no. 44040_03_00028); Note: For some unknown reason, there is no Robert E. Copeland listed NARA's POW database.

[2] Rusty’s brother, Arthur “Jiggs” Copeland also served in the Army Air Corps in London during WW2 - Waco Tribune-Herald, Mar. 1, 2009, p. 23

[3] www.whbfamily.com Obituary of Robert E. “Rusty” Copeland; "In the Services", The Waco Times-Herald, Aug. 15, 1945, p. 16; Article by Chris Clark in Aviation Buzzword, "The Amazing B-29 Had Computer Aided Remote Control Guns", December 10, 2015.

[4] The Waco Times-Herald, Aug. 15, 1945, p. 16; "In the Services", The Waco Times-Herald, Apr. 11, 1946, p. 10.

[5] "Glendene Copeland" (obituary), Waco Tribune-Herald,  Nov. 3, 2001, p. 18; "The R.E. Copelands", Waco Tribune-Herald, April 13, 1997, p. 9E.

[6] The Austin American, Jan. 11, 1957, p. 28.