Robert L. Coffey
Recipient of the Purple Heart medal (1918–1949)
Robert Lewis Coffey Jr. (October 21, 1918 – April 20, 1949) was an American coal miner, World War II veteran, and politician who served briefly as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.
A former military fighter pilot, Coffey was killed after only four months in Congress when a military aircraft he was co-piloting crashed in an experimental flight.
Early life and career
Robert Coffey was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and moved with his parents in early boyhood to Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State University.
He was employed in coal mines in all positions from coal loader to engineer.
World War II and military career
During World War II, he served in the United States Army Air Forces. He flew as a member of the 365th Fighter Group, called the "Hell Hawks," piloting the P-47 Thunderbolt. He commanded the group's 388th Fighter Squadron and was later deputy commander of the group. He was the group's top air ace with credit for six aerial victories during 97 missions.
“Robert L. Coffey” enters the record as recipient of the Purple Heart medal (1918–1949). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Robert, Coffey and Recipient can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7346534. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1918 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert L. Coffey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.