"Bob" Galer was born in 1913 in Seattle, Washington. After graduating from university, he went through flight training with the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. In July 1936, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps and less than a year later he qualified as Naval Aviator. Prior to the U.S. entry into the war, he served with VMF-2, which later became VMF-211 deployed in the defense of Wake Island. Galer did not participate in the fighting, however, and was held in reserve by the command due to his qualification as a Landing Signal Officer for aircraft carriers. His task became the formation of Marine Fighter Squadron 224, armed with Wildcat fighters. The unit was activated in early May 1942 at Ewa Air Base, Hawaii. Galer was promoted to Major on 7 August and arrived with his unit at Guadalcanal on 30 August. VMF-224 became an important part of the Cactus Air Force that defended Guadalcanal from Japanese air raids. Galer and his airmen regularly came into combat with Japanese naval bombers and fighters. From 2 September to 14 October 1942, he managed to shoot down 13 enemy aircraft certainly and 4 probably. He was shot down twice in combat, being declared missing once, but returned to his unit within 24 hours. In early October, he was nominated for the Medal of Honor for his leadership of his unit and success in combat, which he received on 24 March 1943. He received also the British DFC, among many other decorations. Galer was evacuated from Guadalcanal at the end of October 1942 and a year later was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He returned to combat in 1944 as Operations Officer in the 3rd Marine Air Wing and fought during the battles of Palau and Iwo Jima. During the Korean War, already holding the rank of Colonel, he served as Assistant Chief of Staff in the 1st MAW from March 1952. In May he became commander of Marine Air Group 12, but was shot down by anti-aircraft defenses on 5 August and did not fall into captivity only due to a daring rescue by a helicopter crew. He returned to the US shortly thereafter. He retired in 1957 at the rank of Brigadier General. He later became Vice President of Ling-Temco-Vought and was involved in the development of the F8U Crusader. He died in June 2005.