Bob Mitchell was born on May 19, 1918, in San Diego, California. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1942 and received his medical degree from the McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Canada, in 1947. Mitchell was commissioned in the U.S. Navy on July 1, 1947, and performed his internship and residency at the U.S. Naval Hospitals in San Diego and Oakland, California. From September 1949 to September 1950, Mitchell served as the Assistant Medical Officer at NOB Kwajalein in the Pacific Ocean, and then returned to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland. LT Mitchell next attended the Army Medical Service Graduate School at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, graduating in February 1953. He served as an Assistant Medical Officer in Naples, Italy, from March 1953 to December 1954, and then became a research assistant at the School of Aviation Medicine at NAS Pensacola, Florida, where he served until April 1958. During this time, CDR Mitchell was designated a Naval Flight Surgeon. He next served as Senior Medical Officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) from April 1958 to July 1960. He served as a Medical Officer under the Commander of Carrier Division 7 from May to November 1958, followed by service with the Commander of Carrier Division 1 from June to September 1959. CAPT Mitchell again served as a research assistant at the School of Aviation Medicine at NAS Pensacola from July 1960 to June 1965, when he went to Southeast Asia to serve as Staff Medical Officer for the First Marine Aircraft Wing in the Republic of Vietnam. From Vietnam, CAPT Mitchell transferred to the Naval Station in Rota, Spain, where he served as the Senior Medical Officer and later as Commanding Officer of the U.S. Naval Hospital there from August 1966 to 1970. CAPT Mitchell's final assignment was at NAS Pensacola, where he played a leading role in the Thousand Aviator Study and a program of medical evaluation of repatriated Vietnam prisoners of war. He retired from the U.S. Navy after nearly 44 years on active duty on June 30, 1991. CAPT Mitchell was made Honorary Naval Aviator number 21 on June 25, 1990. During his career as a Naval Flight Surgeon, he accumulated over 2,000 flight hours, with many under combat conditions while flying with the Marines in Southeast Asia. Bob Mitchell died on August 4, 2015.