Robert O. Bigelow

YORKTOWN - Lt. Col. (Ret) Robert Orville Bigelow, longtime resident of Yorktown, entered into eternal rest on Oct. 22, 2009.
A native of Baltimore, Md., born Nov. 16, 1922, he spent his early years there attending school and enjoying his boyhood with his brother, Chester, father, George, and mother, Harriet, who have all preceded him in death.
Immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor, after turning 19, he qualified as an Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Corps. He completed his flying training in Camden, S.C., Bainbridge, Ga., Columbus, Miss., and was assigned to a training command airbase in Stuttgart, Ariz. Initially, he towed gliders, but soon the mission changed to pilot training and he instructed advanced cadets until June 1944. As he used to say, he was then able to escape the "Training Command" and go to B-24 and B-29 training, and a chance to get into the war.
He arrived in Guam in time to fly in the great March 9-10 bombing raid on Tokyo. Completing 36 missions against Japan, he returned to the U.S. and left military active duty. As a "citizen soldier" he continued to fly as a reserve pilot, and enrolled to complete his college education at the University of Maryland. While there, he met and married his wife of 61 years, Gene Scaggs Bigelow, who preceded him in death in 2007.
Bigelow was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. Flying several thousand hours with the Military Air Transport Service, the duty took him on numerous crossings of the Pacific in support of Korea and the atomic/hydrogen bomb tests at Eniwetok and Bikini.
As that war ended, he was offered a Regular Commission in the U.S. Air Force and returned to Davis and Elkins, W.Va., as an AFROTC instructor. Though from a family of citizen soldiers, he and Gene felt that after two wars, he was in fact, career military.
Though he flew only enough to maintain proficiency while with AFROTC, he next went to full-time flying at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., in support of Headquarters, U.S. Air Force. Using five or six types of small and large aircraft, missions were to all parts of the U.S., and much of the world, to include an around the world trip with the Secretary of Agriculture in President Roosevelt's aircraft, the Sacred Cow. Completing a seven-year stint in Washington as Assistant executive Officer and front office pilot for the Air Force Comptroller, Major Bigelow joined the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing of C-130 airplanes at Langley Field, Hampton. It was while en route to a four-month "rotation" at Evreux-Fauville, France, that he was intercepted at Lajes in the Azores to return and redeploy for the first of two Post "tours" in support of Vietnam.
After flying airlift missions to 36 different fields in every "nook and cranny" of that tortured place, he left the 463rd wing for what was to be his final tour of duty as Senior Operations Officer on an Action Team in the Pentagon Air Force Command. Awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 10 Oak Leaf Clusters.
Leaving the Air Force for retirement on the Virginia Peninsula, Bigelow met and was hired by Mrs. Norvelate Downing, instantly sharing her concern for the poor housing conditions in downtown Newport News. He started an unlikely career for a military officer as Housing Coordinator, Deputy Director and Director of the Office of Human Affairs. Despite the complete change of direction in life's work, Bob was completely dedicated to the multi-programmed Office of Human Affairs and his fellow man.
After retiring from OHA, he continued his lifelong interest in flying with the Old Dominion Squadron, Commemorative Air Force, and in history as a member of the York County Historical Committee.
He is survived by his daughter, Barbara Rollins and her husband, Dennis; granddaughters, Elizabeth and her husband, David Allen, Stephanie and her husband, Brian Jump, and Samantha; great-grandchildren, Zachary and Caitlin Allen, all of Yorktown. He is also survived by nephews, Chester and Laura Bigelow of Frederick, Md., John and Cathy Bigelow of Frederick, Md.; and a plethora of nieces and nephews.
The family extends it's gratitude and praise to the devoted nurses and staff of the Gardens of Warwick Forest, a team of caring people from Riverside Hospice, and all the family and friends of Bob, who made his journey to Heaven complete.
A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009, in the chapel of Amory Funeral Home, Grafton. The family will receive friends following the service. Interment with full military honors will be held at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010, at Arlington National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to the York County Historical Museum, P.O. Box 2431, Yorktown, VA 23692, or to the Old Dominion Squadron, Commemorative Air Force, 32454 John Beverly Rose Drive, Franklin, VA 23851. View and post condolences on our online guestbook at dailypress.com/guestbooks.