Robert Kean was born in August 1922 in Long Island [Annotator’s Note: Long Island, New York]. He grew up in New York and New Jersey. His father was connected with Wall Street [Annotator’s Note: a block in New York City, New York associated with financial markets]. His mother was a stay-at-home mom. They had a part-time apartment in the city so he could attend a good school, but his father enjoyed the country house more. His father was elected to Congress in 1938 [Annotator’s Note: Robert Winthrop Kean was a member of the House of Representatives from 1939 to 1959]. Kean had two brothers and three sisters. His father inherited some land and a home from his great-uncle. They knew they would be part of the war. He remembers the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was a surprise and greatly affected everyone. He majored in psychology. His parents insisted that he join the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps].

Robert Kean picked the Army because the only ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps] at Princeton [Annotator’s Note: Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey] was the field artillery. He graduated in 1943. A few weeks later, he was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He then went to Fort Bragg [Annotator’s Note: Fort Bragg, North Carolina]. They spent most of their time in a bivouac [Annotator's Note: a bivouac is a temporary campsite]. At night, he would watch the planes land. He went to Pittsburg, Kansas to a small flight school. He graduated as an expert low-flying pilot for intelligence and reconnaissance. Their unit patrolled the front. They would radio back and direct fire for the big cannons, and would practice landings.

Robert Kean remembers they were all in uniform and writing goodbye letters home. He volunteered by staying in college with the ROTC [Annotator's Note: Reserve Officer Training Corps]. His father had served in the First World War [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918]. His uncle was badly wounded in the First World War. His father was a lieutenant in the field artillery in France fighting in the trenches. Kean landed in England with their planes on board. They made their own assignments. It depended on the weather, the plane, and the enemy lines. They were on their own. Until the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] started, things were fairly quiet. The big action did not start until the 16 December. They were right in the front. Tiger tanks [Annotator's Note: German Mark VI main battle tank; known as the Tiger] started firing on them in the middle of the night. Kean was on duty that night and his roommate was a colonel. Before dawn, they heard German guns. It was all planned by Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. They had to get their planes ready for action. It was too dark to fly when the action started. When they made it to the town of Spa [Annotator’s Note: Spa, Belgium] they were able to take baths.

Robert Kean talks about a letter he wrote home. After the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] when their forces were taking the offensive, the big problem was how to get across the Rhine River. There was one bridge still intact. The Germans were firing flak [Annotator's Note: antiaircraft artillery fire] and bombing the bridge as the Americans tried to cross. Kean was flying back and forth. They needed the bridge so the rest of the troops could make it through. It was dangerous for the planes. Their planes were not armed. They were just outside of Berlin [Annotator’s Note: Berlin, Germany] when the war ended. They had gone through a concentration camp. Kean was one of the men picked to stay for occupation duty. The concentration camp was near Munich [Annotator’s Note: Munich, Germany] and it was still operating. It was a horrible sight. There was a lot of death and destruction. There were a lot of starving people. The average soldier got along better with the Germans than they did with the French.

Robert Kean slept on the way back home, knowing no one was going to torpedo them. It was easy duty at the end of the war. It took a while to readjust to civilian life. Nothing seemed important. Driving down a road overseas they would see human bodies and animals. They got used to it. It was bitter cold in the forest before the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945]. A lot of people had frostbite and had to be taken out of the field. They had to put skis on the planes because of the amount of snow on the ground. He graduated from Princeton [Annotator’s Note: Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey] in 1943. He had a good homecoming. One of his brothers was wounded in a tank, having taken shrapnel in the leg. His younger brother was too young to serve. He saw his brother in London [Annotator’s Note: London, England] when they first went overseas. He remembers outwitting the German offensive on 16 December 1944. He had to serve in the war. He grew up in a hurry during the war. He thinks they should continue to teach about the war.