Robert M. Losey

Captain Robert Moffat Losey (; May 27, 1908 – April 21, 1940), an aeronautical meteorologist, is considered to be the first American military casualty in World War II. While serving as a military attaché prior to America's entry into the war, Losey was killed on April 21, 1940, during a German bombardment in Norway. He graduated from Trenton High School in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1924. He was appointed to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, in 1925. Losey then earned two master's degrees from the California Institute of Technology, while serving as a meteorologist in California.

Washington D.C. From August 1937 to January 1940, Losey was on duty in Washington with the office of Training and Operations Section of the office of the Chief of the Air Corps, Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold.

Nordic countries

In February 1940 Losey began serving as the air assistant to the military attaché with the United States Embassy in Finland. News accounts indicated his mission was to report on air developments in the Russo-Finnish War (where the harsh winter conditions provided a special opportunity to observe the interplay between meteorology and military aeronautics). As Harriman later recounted in her book, Mission to the North, Losey told her that "I certainly don't want to be killed, but your death would be the more serious as it might involve our country in all kinds of trouble, whereas with a military attaché ... ."

Several days later, Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring sent to Major General Arnold a message of regret regarding Losey's death.

After the United States entered the war, Hollywood filmmaker Frank Capra included a brief account of Losey's death in Divide and Conquer, the third episode of his propaganda film series, Why We Fight, which he produced on behalf of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Memorials Losey's remains are buried next to those of his mother, in the West Point Cemetery.

The citizens of Dombås erected a monument in Losey's honor in 1987, "In memory of Captain Robert Losey, USAAC killed in action at Dombås 21st April. The first American serviceman to give his life for his country in World War II."

In 1940 the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics established the Robert M. Losey Award in his memory. That honor, known since 1975 as the Losey Atmospheric Sciences Award, is presented in recognition of outstanding contributions to the atmospheric sciences as applied to the advancement of aeronautics and astronautics. Losey Field became known as Camp Losey when it was turned over to the Army's ground forces in 1944, and Fort Allen when it was turned over to the Army's Caribbean Signal Agency in 1959.

Losey Street on Scott AFB Illinois was named for Capt. Losey. The headquarters of USAF's Air Weather Service was once located on this street.

In 1980, the classmates of Losey from Trenton High School class of 1924 erected a plaque in his honor at the War Memorial in Trenton.