Robert Lewis COFFEY, Jr., Congress, PA (1918-1949)

COFFEY, Robert Lewis, Jr., a Representative from Pennsylvania; born in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tenn., October 21, 1918; moved with his parents in early boyhood to Pennsylvania and graduated from the Ferndale High School in 1935; also attended the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State College; employed in coal mines in all positions from coal loader to engineer; appointed a flying cadet September 23, 1939; commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1940; promoted to first lieutenant November 1, 1941, and served in the United States Army Air Force during the Second World War; military air attaché, United States Embassy, Santiago, Chile, from October 1945 to April 1948; resigned his commission as a lieutenant colonel September 1, 1948, to pursue political candidacy; commissioned a colonel, Air Force Reserve, September 2, 1948; awarded Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Presidential Citation, and Belgian and French Croix de Guerre; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-first Congress and served from January 3, 1949, until his death in an airplane accident in Albuquerque, N.Mex., April 20, 1949; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present