Bob was born June 29, 1925 on the land his Grandpa Joe McClelland homesteaded, in the house his Grandpa had built about 1898. His parents were Charles and Emma (Williams) McClelland. He had an older sister, Beth (Bryant) and older brother Kenneth. The McClelland family moved to a farm ½ mile south of Long Island when Bob was a young child. Bob started school there and went there almost the end of third grade. Then they moved back to the family homestead 8 ½ miles northwest of Almena. Bob finished grade school at the Star Country School 1 ½ miles from the farm. Bob attended High School in Almena, graduating in 1943. He helped his Dad on the farm until he was drafted in 1944.
Bob was drafted and sworn into the Army August 4, 1944 at Fort Leavenworth. 26 guys from Norton County were drafted at the same time. From Fort Leavenworth he was sent to Fort Hood Texas for basic training. From there to Fort Lawton, Seattle WA and on to Hawaii on the USS Pickaway. The next stop was to Saipan for more training, then on to Okinawa. The army was deployed by lowering them in a cargo net and slept on the ground the first night.
There were 4 Divisions on the front line in Okinawa. Bob was with the 27th Infantry Division. The invasion began on April 1, 1945. Bob’s unit fought on the front lines until there were only 56 men out of 250 left and on April 29, 1945, the army took those 56 soldiers off the front line, and replaced with a whole other unit of 250 men. April 29th is significant in that it was Hirohito’s (124th Emperor of Japan) birthday. On Hirohito’s birthday the Japanese called for an all-out Banzai attack (which is a mass attack, all-out, usually desperate attack). This attack that night drove our (#250 men) U.S. soldiers back ½ mile North…so badly that the Japanese recovered Moshinawa (Machinato) Air Field. It took the U.S. soldiers 2-3 weeks to regain the ground. Had Bob’s unit of #56 men not been replaced by the #250…those 56 men would have pretty certainly been killed.
Bob’s unit was getting ready to train for invasion when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. 3 days later, August 9th, United States military dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki. Japanese leaders then began steps toward surrender. Injuries and death toll from the bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki estimated at 130,000. Had the US military carried out the invasion that Bob was getting ready to train for, the estimated loss of life and injuries would have been 500,000…not counting injuries and loss of life for the Japanese army and civilians.
The group stayed in Japan for 11 months. Bob returned to the US on the USS Stetson Victory ship back to Seattle. He received his discharge on August 29, 1945. Bob remembered he rode on the old train arriving back in Norton at 3 am.
After his discharge, he farmed with his Dad and worked other jobs as well.
Donna Schilowsky became the love of Bob’s life. She was a sophomore in high school in Almena when they first got glimpses of each other. He finally met her at a party and they started dating. They were married May 29, 1949 and moved to the farm where Bob was born. They spent all their married life there.
They welcomed 2 children into this union, Janice Kay in 1952 and Dennis Jay in 1958. Then they welcomed grandchildren and great grandchildren through the years. They both enjoyed spending time with the family and friends.
Bob never knew a stranger…he loved to visit and loved to be around people. He loved to drive, loved the mountains, loved to read and could remember names of people like none other! He was quite a history buff too.
In 2006, Bob and Donna were contemplating moving into Almena and started looking at houses. Their love story took a sad turn in 2006 when Donna had a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died. Bob moved into the Wheatridge apartments in Almena. The following year his son, Dennis suddenly died of a stroke as well.
Bob was a member of the Almena Congregational Church and Almena Bible Church. He knew the Lord Jesus. He believed Christ died for him and paid the penalty for his sins. He loved the Lord and wanted to obey Him.
Bob was able to spend 98 ½ years of his life living independently. Then his health started digressing and he moved to the Phillips County Retirement Center in Phillipsburg where he died. Bob was ready to go home and be with his Lord and Savior.
He is preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Donna McClelland, parents Charles and Emma McClelland, son Dennis McClelland, brother Kenneth McClelland, and sister Beth Bryant.
Survivors include his daughter Jan Long and husband Tom of Phillipsburg, Kansas, daughter-in-law Carla Bruning of Glade, Kansas, grandchildren Tana Christensen and husband Nicholas of Orleans, Nebraska, Kelly Leonard and husband Rustin of Salina, Kansas, Brooke Shikhman and husband Arthur of Brooklyn, New York, Jake McClelland of Phillipsburg, Kansas, and Lori Schiefen of Overland Park, Kansas.
A funeral service for Bob McClelland will be held at 10:30 a.m., on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, in Phillipsburg, Kansas, with Harold Rivera officiating. Burial will follow at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Almena, Kansas, with military honors conducted by the Norton American Legion Harmonson-Redd Post 63, and the Fort Riley Honor Guard.
Bob will lie in-state on Sunday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Monday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a visitation on Monday evening from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel in Phillipsburg, Kansas.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Phillips County Retirement Center or the Almena City Library.