Lt COL ROBERT E. RAUCH USAFR Ret

7 Dec 1920 - 23 Apr 2022

Robert E. Rauch, 101, of National City, CA passed away on April 23, 2022. Born December 7, 1920, in Indianapolis, IN the family soon moved to Oklahoma where they survived the dust bowl years and Great Depression, he graduated from Sapulpa High School in 1939. The family moved back to Evansville, IN where his family had first come to the USA from Germany around 1850. He began attending Evansville Community College and in his spare time started private flight training.

In 1941 after the events of Pearl Harbor he joined the Army Air Corp and began flight training in 1942. Commissioned a 2 ^nd Lt. he received his flight wings in Feb 1943 and began training to fly the B-24. Assigned in the South Pacific he flew many missions that year ultimately surviving two crashes. After the war ended, he flew with the European Air Transport Service in Europe, the North Atlantic run from Delaware to Europe/Greenland, and then served six years in the Air Weather Service. He also flew the C-47, A6/A11 Trainers, and the C-124 Globemaster.

Robert completed his bachelor's degree in Electronics from the Air Force Institute of Science in 1959. He served with the Titan Missile installation at Denver and the Minuteman Missile test program at Vandenberg Air Force Base. At the time of his retirement in 1966, he was the missile flight safety officer for the Vandenberg Test Range. He served a total of 25 years. He then attended Penn State for a Master's in Engineering where he went on to be a Professor at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, CA for 15 years.

He was married to his first wife Tommie Dean from 1950 until her passing in 1985. He married his present wife, Cynthia Barde in 1994 living in the San Diego region where they enjoyed staying active dancing and attending many Dixieland Jazz Festivals on the West Coast.

He is survived by his wife Cynthia, son Bill Rauch, daughter Donna Fraser; grandchildren Susan, Scott, Phillip, Doug, and Justin; great grandchildren Alexandra, Cody, Rayven, and Claudia; and great-great grandchildren Maverick, McKenzie, Morgan, and Adrian. He was preceded in death by his sister Dorothy, his son Steven and his daughter Roberta.

There will be a graveside service held on Friday, May 6, 2022, at 2pm at the Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery at the family plot.