Name Quentin II | ||
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Grandparents Theodore Roosevelt, Edith Roosevelt Parents Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., Eleanor Butler Alexander-Roosevelt Children Susan Roosevelt Weld, Anna Curtenius Roosevelt Similar People Theodore Roosevelt, Quentin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt - Jr, Susan Roosevelt Weld, Kermit Roosevelt | ||
Quentin Roosevelt II (November 4, 1919 – December 21, 1948) was the fourth child and youngest son of Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III and Eleanor Butler Alexander. He was the namesake of his uncle Quentin Roosevelt, who was killed in action, in 1918 during World War I. His elder brothers were World War II veterans Theodore Roosevelt IV and Cornelius Van Schaack Roosevelt III.
Contents
Life
Quentin II published a paper through the American Museum of Natural History in 1934, describing a new species of fossil pronghorn antelope that he and a boyhood friend, Joseph W. Burden, had found in a cave in southern Arizona. He attended Harvard University, where he wrote his senior thesis on some Nakhi (Naxi) manuscripts he had collected while visiting Western China at the border of Tibet. Life magazine published images from his journey, which he made at the age of 19.
He graduated from Groton School followed by Harvard College in 1941 and soon after joined the Army. He was wounded at the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943 and was a recipient of the Purple Heart, Croix de Guerre and Silver Star. Captain Roosevelt was among the first wave of soldiers to land at Omaha Beach while his father landed with the first wave at Utah Beach on D-day.
Death
While serving as the Director of the China National Aviation Corporation, he was killed in a plane crash in Hong Kong, on December 21, 1948. He was 29. His C-54 plane crashed on a mountain on Basalt Island in Sai Kung. All 35 on board were killed instantly. There is no clear record of recovery or disposition of his remains but they are believed to have been left on Basalt Island. A memorial gravestone for him is located at his wife's grave in Youngs Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York.
Family
On April 12, 1944, he married Frances Blanche Webb, (1917–1995) an American Red Cross worker, at Blandford Forum. They had three daughters: Anna, Alexandra, and Susan. Anna C. Roosevelt, a noted archaeologist specializing in Amazonia, won a MacArthur Fellowship. Alexandra married Ronald W. Dworkin. Susan Roosevelt Weld graduated from Harvard University with a JD and PhD, and was married to former Massachusetts Governor William Weld; they had five children: David Minot Weld, Ethel Derby Weld, Mary B. Weld, Quentin Roosevelt Weld, and Frances Wylie Weld.