Robert Wallace Saunders

Robert Wallace Saunders, Major USAF Retired passed away August 7, 2006 at the age of 88. He was born April 23, 1918 in Texarkana, Arkansas. He cooked breakfast for the students to earn his rent at a boarding house in college before joining the mounted cavalry at age 19. He told stories of riding horseback from El Paso to Balmorrhea during his training. He joined the Air Force at Kelly AFB and served 24 years, including as a flight engineer on B29s and B36s during and after World War II; he and his crew flew reconnaissance missions. He was recently mentioned in the B36 Association Bomb Wing newsletter recounting an infamous incident when he landed in his birthday suit after his flight suit was soaked in hydraulic fluid. He was stationed in Japan after the war. After retirement he worked in Civil Service at Kelly AFB, and later opened Alamo National Camera Repair. His daughters' boyfriends fondly nicknamed him 'Griz' as in grizzly bear, due to his protective nature toward his daughters. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Aline Saunders; his children, Margaret McBain and husband Harry, Dorothy Caprez and husband Chip, Bill Saunders and wife Laurie, Barbara Jacoby and husband Jeff; grandchildren, Allan McBain, Shana Rosenfeld, Laura Caprez, William Saunders, Forrest Saunders, and Kevin Jacoby; and great grandchildren, Austin and Travis McBain and Kylee and Maycee Rosenfeld.