Robert Sinclair was born on August 17, 1897 in Pontic, Illinois to Maude R. and Robert Gordon Sinclair. Robert came to Knox in the fall of 1915 and soon became an active member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He was supposed to have graduated in 1919, but left the college after his sophomore year.
Sinclair entered the service on May 5, 1918 at Camp Funston in Kansas. He was shipped off to France as part of the 314th Sanitary Train, in the 89th Division. He served in the Battle at St. Mihiel (September 12-15, 1918) among others. Because of his quick departure to France, he didn’t hear of his mother’s death on August 2nd until soon after the St. Mihiel offensive. He wrote a letter to his brother consoling him, but Robert sadly died just twelve days later from pneumonia on September 30, 1918.
