Colonel Robert J. Platt

Robert Gray Platt received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Antiaircraft Artillery (AAA) in June 1939 after receiving a bachelor of arts degree in business administration from Michigan State College. In September 1939 he became a battery commander in the 61st AAA Regiment in Europe due to Hitler’s aggression. In 1944 he was designated commander of the 234th AAA Gun Battalion and promoted to lieutenant colonel at the age of 29 years. He took his battalion to Assam, India, with the expectation of fighting the Japanese in Burma; however, the war ended before his unit became engaged.

In 1948 he transferred from the AAA branch to the Adjutant General’s Corps. He served in numerous personnel assignments and in 1961 he was assigned as the adjutant general of the Seventh U.S. Army in Germany. In 1965 he became the professor of military science at his alma mater, Michigan State University. He finished his military career at MSU retiring in August 1969.

Colonel Platt is a graduate of the Army War College and earned his masters of arts degree in international relations from George Washington University. His awards and decorations include the U.S. Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Republic of Korea Legion of Merit, and the United Nations Service Medal.

In recognition of the great credit his exemplary service, superior leadership, and dedication to duty has brought to Michigan State University and the United States Army, Colonel Robert G. Platt is inducted into the MSU Army ROTC Hall of Fame, this eighth day of May nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, in the one hundred fourteenth year of Military Science at MSU.