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 had been attempting to complete the evacuation of the American diplomatic legation from Norway to Sweden in the wake of the German invasion . Personal background . Robert Moffat Losey was born in Andrew , Iowa , on May 27 , 1908 , to Presbyterian clergyman Leon A . Losey and his wife , Nellie Moore Losey . 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 . After graduating among the first 100 members of the West Point Class of 1929 , he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in field artillery , but transferred one year later to the Air Corps . He received his wings from the Air Corps ' Advanced Flying School in San Antonio , Texas , on October 11 , 1930 . Losey then earned two masters degrees from the California Institute of Technology , while serving as a meteorologist in California . " Professors described him as ' perhaps the most brilliant student ' who ever attended the school . " On April 10 , 1933 , he was married to Kathryn Leona Gault " Kay " Banta of 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 . There , he served as the first chief of the Weather Section , and was considered " the army ' s crack aeronautical meteorological expert . " 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 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 . 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 , with the following inscription : " In memory of Captain Robert Losey , USAAC killed in action at Dombås 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 . In 1941 the Army Air Corps established Losey Army Airfield east of Ponce , Puerto Rico , near the island ' s southern coast . 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 .