LAST  MARINE  CORPS  ENLISTED  PILOT

The enlisted rating as a naval aviator was never a smooth nor straight path but that did not deter some men in the enlisted ranks to pin on aviator wings.  One such man was Robert Michael Lurie who joined the Marine Corps during World War II.  Available records concerning him are scarce but reflect that after a period of service he was chosen to become a Marine Corps Enlisted Pilot.  After completing flight training at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, Lurie was issued wings as an enlisted Naval Aviation Pilot (NAP) in 1945.  He subsequently served in a variety of flying assignments at a number of locations which included a tour in Vietnam, then with the rate of Master Sergeant, where he was the pilot of a C-47 gunship.  Records report that MSGT Lurie voluntarily extended his Vietnam tour because his son, 1STLT Robert Michael Lurie Jr., USMC, had reported in country to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 (HML-167) as a Huey helicopter pilot.  MSGT Lurie was rated with more combat time than any of his son’s flying companions and MSGT Lurie was permitted to occasionally fly as his son’s co-pilot on combat flights.  In addition, 1STLT Lurie occasionally flew as co-pilot for his father when he was piloting his C-47 gunship.

Following the Vietnam War the number of Marine Corps Enlisted Pilots was reduced until on February 1, 1973, the last four still on active duty were simultaneously retired.  Thus terminated the long and illustrious career of MGYSGT Robert Michael Lurie who was described by his fellow pilots as “an excellent pilot, leader and a Marines Marine.”  Upon retirement he made his home in Havelock, North Carolina, where he died on September 20, 2009, survived by his companion of 47-years, a son, and four grandchildren.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)