Robert G. Kinzler was born in Newark, New Jersey on March 7, 1922. He enlisted in the United States Army on June 24, 1940, and arrived in Hawaii in September of 1940.

On December 7, 1941, Private Kinzler was a Morse code radio operator assigned to Headquarters Company, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infants (Tropical Lightning) Division, at Schofield Barracks, O'ahu. Schofield Barracks was not a target for the Japanese planes, but rather Wheeler Army Airfield, 3/4 miles away. During the attack, his company was ordered to move to a pre-assigned battle station at the Roosevelt High School football stadium in Honolulu. On their way to Honolulu, they got their first look at the destruction that took place at Pearl Harbor.

During World War II, Bob served in the South Pacific, the continental United States and Canada. With more than 22 years of military service, Captain Robert G Kinzler retired from the United States Army in October of 1962.

Joining the National Park Service's Volunteers-In-Parks program in 1985, Robert Kinzler is one of the USS Arizona Memorial's longest serving volunteers. He has benefited the National Park Service, this park and thousands of park visitors with his articulate and personal interpretation of the events surrounding the Pearl Harbor attacks. He is also currently serving as the president ofthe Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, Aloha Chapter 1, and is the treasurer of the Arizona Memorial Museum Association Board of Directors. He is especially proud of his daughter, Karen, a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.