Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt tells Mrs. J. W. Spencer that he is unable to advise her as he did not personally know her son. He tells her his own son is enlisted in the army at the Aviation Camp.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1917-06-02
Cordelia Zane Euston Hays relates to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt a story that her chauffeur told of Quentin Roosevelt. She writes Quentin was “a wonderful fellow,” and he helped Quentin many times in Issoudun to start his motorcycle.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1918-11-09
John G. Staudt chronicles Quentin Roosevelt’s service in World War I with a focus on his time at the aviation instruction center at Issoudun, France. Staudt challenges the assertions of other historians and believes that Roosevelt’s greatest contribution to the war effort was not getting killed in combat, but rather his work in organizing and leading flight instruction for fellow aviators. Staudt notes that Roosevelt was plagued by anxiety about not serving at the front for much of his time overseas, and he stresses that Roosevelt was well liked by the men under his command. Staudt cites a contemporary source who claims that Roosevelt was a brave and skilled, but reckless pilot.
Seven photographs, including two of Roosevelt, a map, and two illustrations supplement the text.
A newspaper clipping showing an image of the grave of Quentin Roosevelt found by an American aviator. The Germans had buried him and erected a cross bearing the words, “Roosevelt, American Aviator.” The grave was outlined with stones with the remnants of the wreckage piled at its head.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1918
Chaplain Francis Patrick Duffy conducts religious services over the grave of Quentin Roosevelt in Chamery, France. The photograph shows the crude marking originally made by the Germans as well as the new cross placed by the Americans, with wheels from Quentin’s destroyed machine at its side.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1918-09-15
Captain Hamilton Coolidge writes to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt after the death her son, and his friend, Quentin Roosevelt. Coolidge reflects on Quentin’s efforts in aviation and believes his attitudes helped establish the squadron’s “slight but definite supremacy in the air.” Coolidge hopes to find the time to write a small biography of Quentin.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1918-10-12
Mary Goulding Hooff Fawcett has seen Ambler Mason Blackford’s article in The Outlook about Quentin Roosevelt during his time at Episcopal High School at Alexandria, Virginia, and adds to this account her own remembrance of Quentin. Fawcett reflects on the receiving photographs, letters, and kind words remembering her own son, Lieutenant Richard Hartshorne Fawcett, who also was killed while in the Air Service.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1918-10-21
Mary Locke Sumner Sewall copies a note from her son, Sumner Sewall, who was in the 95th Aero Squadron with Quentin Roosevelt.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1918-11-07