Quentin Roosevelt II

Quentin Roosevelt II was born on November 4, 1919, in Oyster Bay, New York. He was the fourth child and youngest son of Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt III and Eleanor Butler Alexander. He was named after his uncle Quentin Roosevelt I, who was killed in action during World War I in 1918. Roosevelt was a grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt.

Roosevelt's early life included education at the Groton School, after which he attended Harvard College. He graduated from Harvard in 1941. In 1934, Roosevelt co-authored a paper published through the American Museum of Natural History, describing a new species of fossil pronghorn found in a cave in southern Arizona. During his time at Harvard, he wrote his senior thesis on Naxi (Nakhi) manuscripts collected during a trip to Western China near Tibet. At age 19, he traveled to China and Tibet; photographs from this journey were published in Life magazine.

He joined the Army shortly after graduating in 1941. Roosevelt served in the 1st Infantry Division alongside his father as an artillery officer. In 1942, he was seriously wounded by machine gun fire from a German aircraft but recovered within a year. During World War II, he participated in the Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943 and was among the first wave of soldiers to land at Omaha Beach on D-Day, while his father landed at Utah Beach. Roosevelt received several military honors, including the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and the French Croix de Guerre. By the end of the war, he had been promoted to the rank of major.

In his post-war military career, Roosevelt served as the Director of the China National Aviation Corporation. On December 21, 1948, he was killed in a plane crash on Basalt Island near Sai Kung, Hong Kong, when the C-54 aircraft he was traveling in crashed on a mountain. All 35 aboard were killed instantly. The remains of Roosevelt are believed to have been left on Basalt Island, with no definitive record of their recovery.

Roosevelt married Frances Blanche Webb, an American Red Cross worker, on April 12, 1944, at Blandford Forum. They had three daughters: Alexandra Roosevelt, Susan Roosevelt Weld, and Anna C. Roosevelt. Anna is known as an archaeologist specializing in Amazonia and a MacArthur Fellowship recipient. Alexandra married Ronald W. Dworkin. Susan earned a JD and PhD from Harvard and was married to William Weld, former governor of Massachusetts; they had five children: David Minot Weld, Ethel Derby Weld, Mary B. Weld, Quentin Roosevelt Weld, and Frances Wylie Weld.

Roosevelt's military awards include the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and French Croix de Guerre. He authored an article titled "Buddhism," published in Life magazine on January 8, 1940. His death was widely reported, with obituaries appearing in publications such as Time and the New York Times.