page_title: Robert M. Losey
section_title: Nordic countries
hierarchical_section_title: Robert M. Losey / Nordic countries
caption_attribution_description: Dombås Station on the Dovrebanen railway line.
context_page_description: Captain Robert Moffat Losey, 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 had been attempting to complete the evacuation of the American diplomatic legation from Norway to Sweden in the wake of the German invasion.
context_section_description: 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 the German armed forces began their Norwegian Campaign, Losey was directed first to Sweden, then to Norway.  After arriving in Norway he immediately became involved in efforts to evacuate the American legation to safety across the Swedish border.  The American legation was divided into two parties.  The first party, including Losey and U.S. Minister Florence Jaffray Harriman, reached Sweden safely but had lost contact with the second party.  Losey volunteered to return to Norway in search of the remainder of the American legation.
  According to Harriman, Losey dissuaded her from accompanying him and Harriman's chauffeur on the rescue effort, and warned her that "you might be bombed," and "the Germans are strafing the roads." 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 ... ." Harriman stayed in Sweden.
  Seeking out the Americans, Losey and the chauffeur passed through Dombås, a strategic railway intersection, just as a German Luftwaffe bombing began. The two sought refuge in a railway tunnel with others, but once in the tunnel Losey stood where he could observe the bombing.  After a bomb fell near the entrance to the tunnel, a fragment of it pierced Losey's  heart, killing him. In addition to Losey, five Norwegians were killed by the bomb, and 18 wounded.
  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.
caption: Dombås Station and the railway tunnels where the American party sought shelter.
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