Individual Details
Robert Middleton Booth
(24 Jul 1912 - 16 Oct 1970)
United States Military Academy Class of 1935
Biography gleaned from www.westpointaog.org
Robert Middleton Booth, was born in New York City on 24 July 1912, a son of Colonel and Mrs. Lucian Dent Booth. He attended grade schools in Washington, D.C., and in Boston, Massachusetts, while his father (Class of 1907) was stationed at those At the formative age of fourteen years, his father’s tour at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, opened up a whole new world to the city-bred boy. This was the beautiful and exciting world of nature which Rob loved all his life. The vast areas of the Proving Ground abounded with deer, and the creeks and coves of the Upper Chesapeake were the feeding grounds for millions of ducks and geese on their annual pilgrimages north and south. Rob attended Tome School, eighteen miles from the Proving Ground, to be stimulating and enlightening, it was the untouched rural atmosphere of the Proving Ground that was most inspirational to him. In 1931, having graduated from St. Albans School for Boys in Washington, D.C., and having prepped for his entrance exams at Colonel Stanton’s School near The Point, Rob won a Presidential appointment to the Military Academy. Upon graduation in 1935, his first tour of duty was Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyoming. Two years later he was assigned to the Philippines where he served with many friends and classmates from the Academy during the halcyon years before World War II.
Those years over and World War II upon the country, he served in pre-war assignments in London and, after this country’s entry into World War II and his further training at Fort Benning, he returned to England and, thence, to France and Germany where, as a battalion commander in the 8th Armored Division, he was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, in December 1944. Released by his own forces, he was assigned to Camp Gordon where he married Dahlis McMurdo Marshall in the chapel at the Oliver General Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, on 10 October 1945.
Post World War II assignments took Booth to Fort Benning, Georgia; Little Rock, Arkansas; Italy; Greece; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Saigon; and again to London and Atlanta, Georgia. His family accompanied him on all but the Saigon assignment. His service awards included the Silver Star for Valor (in World War II), the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Legion of Merit, and the Commendation Medal, with Oak Leaf Cluster.
Retiring from active duty in July 1965, Booth first settled with his wife and sons in Atlanta, later accepting a teaching position in Columbia, Tennessee, and finally settling down at Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where, with rapidly declining health his final illness overtook him. He died on 16 October 1970 at Keesler Air Force Base Hospital, at Biloxi, Mississippi.
Rob leaves his widow, Dahlis; his sons, and stepsons, as well as his mother, Louisa T. Booth, of Roanoke, Virginia; his sisters, and, also, three grandchildren. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Biography gleaned from www.westpointaog.org
Robert Middleton Booth, was born in New York City on 24 July 1912, a son of Colonel and Mrs. Lucian Dent Booth. He attended grade schools in Washington, D.C., and in Boston, Massachusetts, while his father (Class of 1907) was stationed at those At the formative age of fourteen years, his father’s tour at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, opened up a whole new world to the city-bred boy. This was the beautiful and exciting world of nature which Rob loved all his life. The vast areas of the Proving Ground abounded with deer, and the creeks and coves of the Upper Chesapeake were the feeding grounds for millions of ducks and geese on their annual pilgrimages north and south. Rob attended Tome School, eighteen miles from the Proving Ground, to be stimulating and enlightening, it was the untouched rural atmosphere of the Proving Ground that was most inspirational to him. In 1931, having graduated from St. Albans School for Boys in Washington, D.C., and having prepped for his entrance exams at Colonel Stanton’s School near The Point, Rob won a Presidential appointment to the Military Academy. Upon graduation in 1935, his first tour of duty was Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyoming. Two years later he was assigned to the Philippines where he served with many friends and classmates from the Academy during the halcyon years before World War II.
Those years over and World War II upon the country, he served in pre-war assignments in London and, after this country’s entry into World War II and his further training at Fort Benning, he returned to England and, thence, to France and Germany where, as a battalion commander in the 8th Armored Division, he was captured during the Battle of the Bulge, in December 1944. Released by his own forces, he was assigned to Camp Gordon where he married Dahlis McMurdo Marshall in the chapel at the Oliver General Hospital in Augusta, Georgia, on 10 October 1945.
Post World War II assignments took Booth to Fort Benning, Georgia; Little Rock, Arkansas; Italy; Greece; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Saigon; and again to London and Atlanta, Georgia. His family accompanied him on all but the Saigon assignment. His service awards included the Silver Star for Valor (in World War II), the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Legion of Merit, and the Commendation Medal, with Oak Leaf Cluster.
Retiring from active duty in July 1965, Booth first settled with his wife and sons in Atlanta, later accepting a teaching position in Columbia, Tennessee, and finally settling down at Fort Walton Beach, Florida, where, with rapidly declining health his final illness overtook him. He died on 16 October 1970 at Keesler Air Force Base Hospital, at Biloxi, Mississippi.
Rob leaves his widow, Dahlis; his sons, and stepsons, as well as his mother, Louisa T. Booth, of Roanoke, Virginia; his sisters, and, also, three grandchildren. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Events
| Birth | 24 Jul 1912 | New York, New York |  | ||
| Marriage | Bef 1941 | 1st Wife Unknown-RMB | |||
| Marriage | 10 Oct 1945 | Augusta, Richmond Co., Georgia - Dahlis Playfair McMurdo | | ||
| Death | 16 Oct 1970 | Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi | | ||
| Burial | Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington Co., Virginia | |
Families
| Spouse | 1st Wife Unknown-RMB ( - ) |
| Child | Robert Middleton Booth Jr. (1941 - ) |
| Spouse | Dahlis Playfair McMurdo (1916 - 1997) |
| Father | Lucian Dent Booth (1882 - 1960) |
| Mother | Louisa Tomkins Middleton (1887 - 1981) |
| Sibling | Cornell Dent Booth (1914 - 2000) |
| Sibling | Catherine Tomkins Booth (1916 - 2002) |
| Sibling | Louisa Frances Booth (1925 - 2013) |
| Sibling | Leila Amanda Booth (1930 - 2013) |
Endnotes
4. A Kirkpatrick Genealogy; Melvin Kirkpatrick & David Hudson, 1995.