Brown County’s oldest veteran and the state’s oldest employee Robert “Bob” Vollmer passed away yesterday at the age of 104.
Vollmer was a World War II veteran who served in the U.S. Navy. He worked for the Department of Natural Resources for 57 years, mostly in the field or out of his home office in Brown County. He retired when he was 102 in early 2020.
News of his passing was confirmed by DNR on Twitter.
Vollmer started with the agency as project engineer at Glendale Fish & Wildlife Area in 1963. He was older than the DNR itself — the agency turned 100 in 2019.
In Brown County, Vollmer was a well-known and loved. He was one of at least five living WWII veterans in the county.
Last spring, the community came together at the Brown County Playhouse to pay tribute to Vollmer, who was a Chief Petty Officer, along with 2nd Lt. Graham T. “Teed” Howard, Petty Officer 3rd Class U.S. Navy Foreman Earl Lloyd Soley and Pfc. Robert “Bob” Gipson.
Vollmer was born May 20, 1917, in Washington, Indiana. After attending school, he enlisted in the Navy and trained as a machine gunner, builder, bulldozer operator and electrical specialist.
Vollmer was a “Fighting Seabee,” trained to operate construction equipment with one hand while firing a weapon with the other.
He was among the group that took back the islands of Attu and Kiska in Alaskan territory from the Japanese Navy in 1942. In 1943, his unit was deployed to the South Pacific in support of one of the first and bloodiest battles, Tarawa. It was in this battle that his brother, a U.S. Marine rifleman, lost his life in combat.
It was at the invasion of the Philippines in the Leyte Gulf that Vollmer salvaged equipment and bailing wire to make generators and communications at the front. He was promoted to Chief Petty Officer for these efforts.
After the war, he returned to Purdue University and received a degree in civil engineering, then worked for nearly 70 years as a surveyor for the state of Indiana. He retired in 2019 at the age of 102.
At the Playhouse last spring, Vollmer was presented a birthday cake on stage. He had turned 104 the week prior.
Read more about Vollmer’s life and comments from those who knew him in next week’s Democrat.
