Robert U. Cassel, 95, WWII vet and naturalist

To friends and family, he was "the grand old man," "the stuff of legend," a World War II veteran who believed in hard work and service to family, country, and the environment.

Robert U. Cassel, 95, a decorated infantry captain in Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army and a devoted birder and naturalist, died Wednesday, Sept. 1, at his temporary home in Little River, S.C. He was a longtime resident of Mantua Township.

Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Cassel was raised in Paulsboro and Woodbury and graduated from Woodbury High School in 1932. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College, where he studied biology, and soon began working as a chemist at a Mobil Corp. laboratory in Paulsboro.

As World War II loomed, Mr. Cassel received a draft notice and was told by his supervisor that he could be exempted from military service because his job was considered essential. He declined the exemption and entered the Army.

Mr. Cassel arrived with the 94th Infantry Division in France about three months after D-Day. He was a battalion operations officer in the 301st Infantry Regiment.

In early 1945, the 94th went up against the heavily fortified Siegfried Line, suffering severe casualties in bitter cold before punching through with the help of the 10th Armored Division.

Mr. Cassel helped organize the crossing of the Saar River in boats under direct fire from Germans. One of two Bronze Stars he received during the war was awarded for helping fellow battalion members escape a trap that could have decimated the unit.

During the war, Mr. Cassel shipped some battlefield artifacts to his home and kept a small, unofficial museum in his house. He took the collection to veterans events and Veterans Day presentations at schools.

One artifact was a large Nazi swastika flag that he had found neatly folded and hidden in the basement of a police station in Ludwigshafen, Germany. He recently donated his collection to the University of Georgia.

Until his recent illness, Mr. Cassel was the editor of the Hoodlum News, a quarterly newsletter for the 301st Infantry Association. He also attended reunions of the 94th Veterans Association and the Battle of the Bulge Veterans Association.

After the war, Mr. Cassel resumed work at Mobil and served as a councilman in Paulsboro. He retired in the late 1980s. His first wife, Eve, who died in 1994, was a longtime elementary school teacher in Paulsboro.

Mr. Cassel, his wife, and two daughters hand-built a house on a tract overlooking Edwards Run near Barnsboro in the 1950s.

"We helped him build the house from river rocks hauled up from the Delaware River," Mr. Cassel's daughter Claire said. "He methodically put the house together stone by stone."

He lived in the ranch-style home until he sold it to a neighbor this year.

Mr. Cassel was a founding member of the Gloucester County Nature Club in 1949, and the last of its founders to die. For years, he was the local compiler for the National Audubon Society's Christmas bird count.

"Some of his best friends were plants, and some of his best friends were birds. He knew what service was all about to the environment, to the community, and to the people," said Erik Mollenhauer, an educational program director at the Educational Information and Resource Center in Sewell and executive committee member at the nature club.

Mr. Cassel was a Boy Scout leader and a volunteer at a Mennonite relief warehouse in Lancaster County. He also had a lifelong interest in photography and moonlighted as a wedding photographer.

He made time for the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, too, and was its oldest volunteer. He once said he was "amazed by her grand beauty and graceful lines."

"Bob gave so much to the battleship," said Jack Willard, a museum spokesman. "He was a valued crew member who will be missed."

A lifelong member of Christ Presbyterian Church in Gibbstown, Mr. Cassel and others built a new church building at 400 Swedesboro Rd. in the mid-1960s.

He remarried in 2001. In addition to his wife, Carol, and his daughter Claire, he is survived by another daughter, Judith Cassel Williams; three grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a sister.

A memorial service is planned for Saturday, Oct. 9, at Christ Presbyterian Church. Burial will be in Eglington Cemetery, Clarksboro.