Robert Court Fletcher World War I Correspondence and Dog Tags

Robert Court Fletcher, second child and only son of James M. and Florence Court Fletcher, was born in Vigo, Indiana, on September 10, 1893. At least he and his sister Fay were living in Birmingham, Alabama, when he was drafted in March of 1918. Only two of his letters mention the he has written to their mother (James Fletcher died in 1912 before the war) but didn't indicate where she was living. In one of the early letters he tells Fay that he has taken an insurance policy for $10,000 listing her as his beneficiary and then once she marries, that he will change his insurance as soon as he can. All his letters and postcards begin with "My Darling Sister" and close with "your devoted brother, Bob."

In March 1918, Fletcher was drafted, and by early May he was at Camp Colt in Getttysburg, Pennsylvania, where he was part of the newly formed Tank Corps commanded by Major Dwight Eisenhower. When he was deployed to the European Theater, he was assigned to the 302nd Tank Battalion equipped with heavy British Mark VI tanks. Once in France, the battalion was stationed in Langres at the American Expeditionary Forces' Tank Center commanded by Captain George S. Patton. After the Meuse-Argonne offensive, he was transferred to the 344th Tank Battalion, which was also stationed at Langres and was equipped with lighter French Renault tanks.

Very little is known about Fletcher after he returned from Europe. He married Ethel (maiden name unknown) and worked as a clerk in the soda industry. He died on April 6, 1958, and is buried in Sanford, North Carolina in the same cemetery plot as his father.