Remembering Corporal Robert Addison “Bobby” Posey

On November 22, 1942, the Henderson Morning Gleaner reported news that brought the war in the Pacific painfully close to home. Corporal Robert Addison “Bobby” Posey, 22, had been killed on Guadalcanal. The newspaper identified him as Henderson’s first officially confirmed World War II casualty, according to local Red Cross records. About a dozen Henderson County servicemen had already been reported missing.

Born in Henderson on February 6, 1920, Bobby was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Theo Posey. Before entering military service, he worked as a service representative for Kentucky Utilities in Cynthiana. He volunteered for the United States Marine Corps on September 25, 1941, more than two months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Posey trained at Parris Island, South Carolina, before serving in the Pacific. Two of his brothers were also in uniform: Major James T. Posey was overseas, while Lieutenant John Cabell Posey was serving in South America. Another brother, Thomas, lived in Lebanon, Tennessee.

The newspaper preserved a heartbreaking detail about the moment his parents learned of his death. They were showing friends a photograph of Bobby that had appeared in that week’s Life magazine, depicting Marines in action in the Solomon Islands, when the notification arrived.

Bobby was killed in action on October 14, 1942, and initially buried in the First Marine Division cemetery on Guadalcanal. After the war, his remains were returned to Henderson. His gravestone records his reburial on February 29, 1948. Today, he rests in Fernwood Cemetery, Section 23, Lot 1487, Grave 3. Above his name, his parents’ tribute remains: “In Loving Memory of Our Son.”