 |
| Chattanooga News, 17-July-1918 |
Quentin Roosevelt was the youngest child of former President Theodore Roosevelt. Quentin volunteered to join the Air Service. 100 years ago today, on 14-July-1918, his Nieuport 28 was shot down in a dogfight and he was killed. The Germans buried him with honors. The articles are from the 17-July-1918 Chattanooga News. Below I included a photo of a Nieuport 28 in the Museum of Flight near Seattle, which is painted to resemble Quentin Roosevelt's airplane.
ROOSEVELT'S SON KILLED ON MARNE
Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt, Youngest of Teddy's Family, Falls Hun Victim
IN AEROPLANE COMBAT
Over Chateau -Thierry Sector. Was Third Flight of Gallant Young Officer.
COL. ROOSEVELT'S TRIP TO NEW YORK CANCELED
Oyster Bay. N. Y., July 17. -- Col. Roosevelt learned that his son Quentin was missing through press dispatches this morning. He said he had nothing to say at this time, but would make a statement later. The colonel had planned to visit New York today, but canceled his visit when the news came that his son was missing.
London, July 17. -- Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt, son of former President Theodore Roosevelt, was shot down and killed on the Chateau Thierry sector of the Marne front on Sunday, according to an Exchange Telegraph dispatch from Paris today. According to the dispatch Philip Roosevelt, from his station in the trenches, saw the young American aviator fall a victim to a German air squadron.
According to the dispatch Philip Roosevelt, from his station in the trenches, saw the young American aviator fall a victim to a German air squadron.
Lieut. Roosevelt, the dispatch says, was returning from a patrol flight when he was attacked by a German squadron.
It was seen that Roosevelt suddenly lost control of his machine, having probably received a mortal wound.
Quentin Roosevelt was the youngest son of the former president and shot down his first German airplane in a fight north of Chateau-Thierry one week ago today. This was his third flight over the fighting front.
Lieut. Roosevelt received his commission in the aviation service on July 14. 1917, after being graduated from the Mineola, N. Y training school.
Dispatches Unquestioned.
Washington, July 17. The war department today was without any official confirmation whatever of the London reports that Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt had been shot down behind the German lines while in combat with a German machine. Officers, however, did not question the accuracy of the press dispatches. They said they would beat official confirmation by many hours, as Gen. Pershing would not report on the matter until all of the details had been obtained. Officers of the air service expressed the most keen regret over the loss of the gallant young officer, of whom great things had been expected. The last reports received dealing with him indicated that he was on duty about the section where he is said to have met his death.
Gravely Quiet.
New York. July 17. Col. Theodore Roosevelt was momentarily stunned when informed-over the telephone that his son Quentin was reported a victim of a German airplane on the Chateau-Thierry sector in France.
The colonel had just finished breakfast at his Oyster Hay home when the dispatch was read to him.
He was gravely quiet and listened without interruption. When asked if he had anything to say. he said:
"Nothing at all; nothing at all."
Col. Roosevelt said, however, that the press dispatch was the first intimation he had received that anything had happened to Quentin. Me left for New York shortly after receiving the message.
On April 13. 1917. Roosevelt, then a sophomore at Harvard university, came to Washington with letters from Representative Longworth, his brother-in-law, and Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, asking that he be allowed to enlist in the aviation section of the signal reserve corps, that he might train for a commission. He was examined at Walter Reed hospital the same day and easily passed the physical tests. He was enlisted the following day and assigned to the flying school at Mineola, L. I., where he attained the rank of sergeant. He took final examinations for a commission on July 2, and was sworn in as a first lieutenant on July 7. He left almost immediately for overseas and after a short course at a French aviation school was, on Sept. 13, of last year, admitted as a fall-fledged aviator.
With Patrol of Thirteen.
Lieut. Roosevelt was last seen in combat on Sunday morning with two enemy airplanes about ten miles inside the German lines In the Chateau-Thierry sector. He started out with a patrol of thirteen American machines. They encountered seven Germans and were chasing them back, when two of them turned on Lieut. Roosevelt.
Glad of Boy's Play.
Oyster Bay, N. Y., July 17. -- "Quentin's mother and I are very glad that he got to the front and had the chance to render some service to his country and to show the stuff there was in him before his fate befell him."
This was the statement issued by Col. Roosevelt today after press dispatches had furnished confirmation of earlier reports that his son, Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt, had been killed in an aerial battle In France.
In July, 2010, we visited the Museum of Flight near Seattle. I took this photo in the Personal Courage Wing, which features airplanes, mostly fighters, from World War One and World War Two. The museum's Nieuport 28 is an original. It is painted in the colors of Quentin Roosevelt, the son of Theodore Roosevelt, who died in a Nieuport 28.
