Robert Shafter Greer was born on September 3, 1899, in Davidson County, North Carolina. He was a resident of High Point when he enlisted in the North Carolina National Guard in July 1916. After the country's entrance into World War I in 1917, Greer was transferred to Company A of the 105th Engineers, which unit he remained with until he deserted in the fall of that year. He was eventually captured at Salisbury, court-martialed, and sentenced to one year of hard labor with a forfeiture of pay for that duration. Greer was deployed overseas, in some capacity, from May 1918 to June 1919 and was dishonorably discharged on November 14, 1919. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 17, 1955.