Harry Carlton Robertson III arrived in Bethesda in 1959 from the Eastern Shore wearing his grandfather's lace up boots thus introducing a style and a unique sense of fun to BCC. Nobody could shuck an oyster like Robbie. He taught us to how to slip them down the hatch from a glass of champagne. There was a memorable picnic at Great Falls in the snow when he brought his family silver chandeliers and picnic basket full of delights. As an usher at my wedding he dressed up as a gorilla to drive the startled newly weds to Union Station.

He won a scholarship to Vanderbilt from the Coast Guard and was commissioned in 1966 just in time to serve in Vietnam for a year in 1967. He came to London soon after and regaled us with the stories of skirmishes along the Mekong Delta during the Tet Offensive and the horrors of trying to rescue pilots who had ditched into the South China Sea. Later he served on expeditions on an ice breaker to both the North and South Poles. He was a specialist in navigation safety and attained the rank of Commander. In 1993 he was retired on the grounds of disability and died in 1994. 

Robbie is greatly missed by all his friends. He had a hat collection from around the world. I still have his Bertie Worcester boater hanging in my hall.