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BIOGRAPHY: LTG Robert F. Sink: The Intrepid Commander of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) and Camp Toccoa, Georgia.

 

Of all the key personalities and figures that remain important to the history associated with Camp Toccoa and the paratroopers of the Second World War, none other than the Commander, Robert F. Sink occupies such stature.

Stephens County and the City of Toccoa celebrate not only the history of “Curhaee,” Camp Toccoa, and the Parachute Infantry Regiments that trained in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, but the community has enshrined the Commander, General Robert F. Sink, West Point Class of 1927. “Robert Frederich Sink was born in Lexington, North Carolina in April 3, 1905.”[1]

 Of the more than 13,000 U.S. Army paratroopers that jumped on D-Day, 6 June 1944, General Sink jumped with the 1st Battalion 506th PIR. His first 24 hours in France are captured in the official U.S. Army History of the Second World War: “throughout D Day Colonel Sink at the 506th regimental headquarters felt wholly isolated and almost alone on the Cotentin Peninsula.”[2]

Col. Robert F. Sink, Commander 506th PIR.[3]

General Sink remained with his beloved regiment all through the Second World War, having turned down promotions that would have separated him from his paratroopers. Post-World War II, he finally was promoted several times. Ultimately, he was promoted to Lieutenant General (a three-star). In 1959, as the XVIII Airborne Corps Commander, based out of Ft Bragg N.C., he conducted an inspection of subordinate units at Ft Hood Tx. Inspected areas included soldier “saluting, dress, housekeeping, pride in unit, athletic program, and church attendance.”[4]

His death reverberated across the U.S. Army and touched all who had ever served with him. Especially the veterans of his intrepid and storied 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. General Jablonsky, a West Point classmate and family friend wrote to Sink’s widow, “We were so fond of him and always felt he played a large part in my being a General officer today.”[5]

 The North Carolina Army National Guard honored General Sink by dedicating an Armory in Lexington. The “General Robert F. Sink Armory at 201 West Ninth Avenue”[6] was built and dedicated in 1954. Additionally, the 101st Division, Airborne, also renamed the post library, the Robert F. Sink Memorial Library, after his passing.

In 2016, the daughter of General Sink, Ms. Robin Sink McLelland, donated her father’s Brazilian mahogany desk. “He discussed the Brazilian Role in the Cold War at this desk and he probably helped to form STRAC [Strategic Army Corps], one of his major accomplishments as a general, at this desk,” McLelland said.[7] The desk now sits on display at the Robert F. Sink Memorial Library on Ft Campbell in Kentucky.

            Toccoa, Curahee, and the Stephens County Historical Society only thought it appropriate to see the veteran members of the “506th Parachute Infantry Association” see to it that an official marker and trail were established in 2000. The ‘Colonel Robert Sink Memorial Trail’ at the base of the Curahee mountain trail is a fitting tribute. The official trail marker is both, a fitting tribute and a fond memory by the men who indeed, stood alone in the early hours of June 6th, 1944.

“Dedicated by the “Five-O-Sinks”

The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment Association,

November 4, 2000, at Toccoa, Georgia.

Duty — Honor — Country

Robert F. Sink, Lt. Gen. U.S. Army, April 3, 1905 – December 13, 1965.

“Currahee” • “We Stand Alone”[8]


BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES

 

1. Colonel Robert F. Sink Papers, Manuscript Collection #255, East Carolina University, Archives. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0255.

 

2. “General Sink Visits STRAC Units,” Armored Sentinel, Vol. 17, No. 30, Ed. 1 Temple, Texas, Friday, December 18, 1959, newspaper, December 18, 1959. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth254614/: accessed February 23, 2022, University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Casey Memorial Library.

 

 

3. Gordan A. Harrison, Cross Channel Attack, United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations. Washington, D.C: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1992.

 

4. Jablonsky, Harvey Julius, “Letter from Gen. H. J. Jablonsky to Mrs. Frederick O. Sink,” East Carolina Manuscript Collection, December 22, 1965. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/34893.

 

 

5. Mari-Jasper, Alice, “A place of innovation: Daughter donates Sink's Desk at Library's 50th Anniversary”, Fort Campbell Courier, May 20, 2016. https://www.army.mil/article/168318/a_place_of_innovation_daughter_donates_sinks_desk_at_librarys_50th_anniversary.

 

6. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Historic Register, Section 7, Page 2, Lexington Residential Historic District, Davidson County, NC. https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/DV0992.pdf.

 

SECONDARY SOURCES

1. Photograph, Unknown, “Colonel Sink in Austria,” 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association. https://old.506infantry.org/his3rdbnwwiiphoto24.html.

 

2. “Colonel Robert Sink Memorial Trail,” Historical Marker Database, HDMB.org. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=9827.

 


[1] Colonel Robert F. Sink Papers, Manuscript Collection #255, East Carolina University, Archives. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0255.

[2] Gordan A. Harrison, Cross Channel Attack, United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operation, (Center of Military History, United States Army: Washington, D.C., 1992), 283.

[3] Photograph, Unknown, “Colonel Sink in Austria,” 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association. https://old.506infantry.org/his3rdbnwwiiphoto24.html.

[4] “General Sink Visits STRAC Units,” Armored Sentinel, Vol. 17, No. 30, Ed. 1 Temple, Texas, Friday, December 18, 1959, newspaper, December 18, 1959; https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth254614/: accessed February 23, 2022, University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History. https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Casey Memorial Library.

[5] Jablonsky, Harvey Julius, “Letter from Gen. H. J. Jablonsky to Mrs. Frederick O. Sink,” East Carolina Manuscript Collection, December 22, 1965. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/34893.

[6] United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Historic Register, Section 7, Page 2, Lexington Residential Historic District, Davidson County, NC. https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/DV0992.pdf.

[7] Mari Alice-Jasper, “A Place of Innovation: Daughter Donates Sink's Desk at Library's 50th Anniversary,” Fort Campbell Courier, May 20, 2016. https://www.army.mil/article/168318/a_place_of_innovation_daughter_donates_sinks_desk_at_librarys_50th_anniversary.

[8] “Colonel Robert Sink Memorial Trail,” Historical Marker Database, HDMB.org, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=9827.

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