In Service to America: Profile 14 – Technical Sergeant Robert Glover

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Technical Sergeant Robert Glover served 16 years in the US Air Force. Like many service members, he never saw combat, despite serving during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. But his contribution was invaluable to keep Air Force aircraft flying, supporting those who were in the thick of combat. It’s been said that for every service member firing on the enemy, it takes nine people behind him to provide support – Robert Glover is proud to have provided that support.

Glover grew up on his parent’s dairy farm, just over the Nashua/Hollis town line. Asked if he had attended Nashua High, Glover replied, “In Hollis we all went to school in what was called the White Building – it was 12 grades all under one roof. I graduated from there in June, 1952.”

After graduation, Glover worked on the farm for a short time, then enlisted in the Air Force in September, 1952. He was assigned to Sampson Air Force Base in upstate New York for basic training. If Sampson AFB does not sound familiar, it was commissioned as a training facility by the Air Force in 1942 and decommissioned in 1956. The US Army then occupied the base from 1957 to 1960.

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Upon completing basics, Glover took a 30-day leave, and was then assigned to the 3924^th Air Police Squadron at an Army base in Carson, CO where he was part of a group to train officers to be a General’s Aide.

This was followed by an assignment to Lackland AFB in Texas where he attended jet engine school for four months. Then the Air Force put him to work at Lockbourne Air Force Base in Columbus, OH where he was assigned to a maintenance squadron and worked on the B-45 “Tornado” bombers. The B-45 was the first American-made jet bomber to be mass-produced, and the first jet bomber enabled to carry an atomic bomb. Glover recalls, “I was part of the field maintenance crew. We worked on those B-45’s, and from there they flew all over the world.”

Glover spent almost nine years at Lockbourne AFB during which time he earned his private pilot’s license. While flying a single-engine plane, an unfortunate crash laid him up in a hospital for almost a year doing considerable damage to his ankle.

Returning to work, Glover was next assigned to work on the B-47 “Stratojet” bombers. These were long-range, six-engine, swept-wing aircraft, designed to hit targets in the Soviet Union during the cold war. Glover noted, “These aircraft were designed as bombers but the ones we worked on were equipped with high-tech cameras. They could fly at 70,000 feet at jet-speed and take a clear, detailed picture of a dime lying on a sidewalk.” Glover became a crew chief for the B-47’s

His next assignment was in Thule AFB in Greenland. “I arrived during what they called twilight time, “said Glover. “From there on, it was dark… and cold all the time. The base was lit-up pretty well but that didn’t make it any warmer. And my old plane crash injuries still haunted me, especially with the cold weather. We had no hospital there but the doctors gave me pain killers. After several months, I knew that pills did not provide a long-term solution so they sent me off to a hospital at Andrews AFB for surgery. This was about 1963. Again, this laid me up for about a year. To help with the boredom I sometimes helped the corpsmen when I could. I would push people around in a wheelchair and so forth.”

Being discharged from the hospital, Glover was next assigned to Westover AFB in Chicopee, MA where, as part of the maintenance crew, he managed the publications required to perform maintenance. This would include bulletins on required upgrades to the aircraft, updates on maintenance procedures and spare-parts catalogs.

It was about this time, 1965, that the war in Vietnam was heating up. Glover and his crew took their talents to Anderson AFB on the island of Guam. Glover explained, “We serviced aircraft on Guam, then sent them over to Vietnam. I would occasionally ride with a crew to get some flying time logged.”

Glover retired from the Air Force in 1968 on a 40% disability. He said, “I had been a Staff Sergeant for years. I figured I would be a Staff Sergeant forever. Then, on my way out the door on retirement day, I was stopped and handed some paperwork. The Air Force retired me as an E-6, Technical Sergeant!”

Glover worked the family farm for a time, then took a job at Steve King Tire in Nashua installing tires. Glover remembers, “We sold a lot of tires. Then Costco came to town with their auto shop and our sales volume dropped. They had to lay-off myself or another guy. The other fella had some medical issues and needed the job more than me, so I bowed out.” Glover then ended up working at Costco in Nashua doing a number of different jobs.

Asked about staying in touch with any of his Air Force friends Glover replied, “Our group has had annual reunions for years in different parts of the country.” Glover has also been active in American Legion for over 20 years. 

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