Missing information?
Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?
Submit- Full
name
WOOD, Roger Lee - Date of
birth
25 May 1922 -
Age
22 - Place of
birth
Milford, Worcester County, Massachusetts -
Hometown
Worcester County, Massachusetts
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-811921 -
Rank
First Lieutenant -
Function
Pilot -
Unit
514th Fighter Squadron,
406th Fighter Group
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal
Death
-
Status
Killed in Action - Date of
death
23 August 1944 - Place of
death
Brueil-en-Vexin, France
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Epinal
| Plot | Row | Grave |
|---|---|---|
| B | 13 | 22 |
Immediate family
-
Members
Ernest R. Wood (father)
Millicent H. Wood (mother)
Perry E. Wood (brother)
Beatrice Wood (sister)
Charles H. Wood (brother)
Herbert Wood (brother)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-28300 -
Data
Type: P-47D-26-RE
Destination: Mantes-Gassicourt, France
Mission: Armed Column Support
MACR: 8588
More information
Roger L. Wood graduated from Uxbridge High School and was a machine operator.He volunteered for the Air Corps of the Army of the United States in Boston, Massachusetts, on 21 January 1942.
Maj George I. Ruddell, who participated in the same mission, stated: "We had previously destroyed a German medium tank and knocked out three twenty mm flak batteries, receiving a fairly heavy concentration of light-type explosive flak in the process. We then found another enemy tank with a jeep and ammunition truck and proceeded to destroy these. Lt Wood was my number three man in red flight, and I observed him make a pass on the vehicle loaded with ammunition, which blew up after first catching fire and burning for several seconds. As Lt Wood pulled up off the target, I looked about to be sure of avoiding the other aircraft of the squadron in the vicinity, and then looked back just in time to observe an aircraft crash in the woods about a mile from the target and explode. I did not observe the flight path of the plane prior to the crash. I had observed no flak on attacking this target. There was no parachute seen."
He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery of Solers, France.
The American Legion Post 355 in Mendon, Massachusetts, is named after him.
The Association Vexin Histoire Vivante, a local French historical association, has done extensive research and has found the site of the crash and was able to recover wreckage.
Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.findagrave.com, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov – WWII Enlistment Record, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / 1930 Census / 1940 Census, www.fold3.com
Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Andy, Evening Gazette - 2 April 1940, Arie-Jan van Hees, Association Vexin Histoire Vivante