WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL - 2nd Lt. Roger W. Squire

 

Second Lieutenant

Roger Wesley Squire

Pappy's Pullman was the B-24 on which 2Lt Squire served his last mission. (Slightly edited photo)

Born in Bowling Green, Ohio, to George Wesley and Florence A. (Smith) Squire on May 7, 1922, George would later turn into a Defiance boy. After his father died in 1928, his mother, a widow, moved to Defiance and they lived with a grandfather, John C. Edwards. Later, she remarried to James O. Reed and by the 1940 census, the family lived on Jefferson Avenue in Defiance. His siblings included his brother (Pvt) George Squire, who survived the war, and sisters, Bessie and June. He also had some stepsiblings: Robert, Mary and Kenneth Reed.

Roger graduated from Defiance High School and then worked at the Defiance Machine Works. He registered for the draft on June 27, 1942, in Defiance. At 5'7" and 130 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, he went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to enlist into the Army Air Corps.

He trained at Keesler Field in Mississippi; Laredo, Texas for aerial gunnery, and New Mexico for bombardier training and finished with schooling in aerial reconnaissance photography and enemy aircraft identity. 

Crescent-News, June 28, 1946

On June 22, 1945, he was on a mission on 'Pappy's Pullman" to raid the Kawasaki Aircraft Factory in Kagamihara, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. They were attacked by Japanese fighters, and his plane eventually crashed, but not before some men parachuted out. Because his death date has been given officially as June 22, it was thought that Lt. Squire may have one of the men killed in action on that day. But, instead, he had parachuted, and with nine other of his crewmen, was captured by the Japanese.

Crescent-News, November 22, 1949

However, the Crescent-News reported that the total crew was taken captive as POWs, beheaded and cremated on July 14, and then the ashes were returned to the U.S. after the war. Lt. Squire's ashes were returned with those of 39 other POWs to Jefferson Barracks Memorial Cemetery.  They were buried together with a stone listing all the names and ranks.

*No photo was found for Lt Roger W Squire.  If you have one to share, please let us know.

Mary Williams, Researcher