DOB/DOD: January 6, 1926 (Waterbury, CT) – February 19, 1945; 19 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Jane Shirley Germane (1926-1950) on April 29, 1944, in Naugatuck, CT. Jane remarried Earle C. Root in December 1945, had two children, and died at just 25 years old from a brain tumor.
LOCAL ADDRESS: 288 City Hill Street, Naugatuck
ENLISTMENT: March 4, 1943, in Springfield, Massachusetts
SERVICE NUMBER: 527291
UNIT: Company L, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, 4th Marine Division
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 0522, Guard; and 0604, Machine Gun Crewman
FAMILY: Born to Raymond C. (1899-1987) and Mildred Parsons Wooster (1899-1992). Harold Wooster was their only child. 1
CIRCUMSTANCES: Boot camp in the summer of 1943 at Parris Island, South Carolina. Assigned to the First Guard Company at the Navy Base in Newport, Rhode Island, from late 1943 until the Spring of 1944. Shortly after getting married in May 1944, assigned to the 5th Replacement Draft, San Diego, California. In January 1945, he was assigned to the 4th Marine Division, 25th Marines, 3rd Battalion. 4 Killed in action from multiple wounds. 3 PFC Wooster and Private Charles Nagel of New Haven were in the same company. They died 11 days apart.
PFC Wooster (middle), mother Mildred (left), and father Raymond (right). 2 From Ancestry.com.
Wedding Day from Ancestry.com.
From the Naugatuck Daily News March 20, 1945
Pfc Harold C. Wooster of Pond Hill Was Member of Crack Fourth Marines
Reported By Navy Department as Lost Feb 19th, Day Following Invasion of Strategic Point Which Japanese Defended Bitterly
Naugatuck’s death toll in World War II reached the half-century mark last night when Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wooster of Pond Hill were informed by the Navy Department that their son, Private First Class Harold C. Wooster, a member of the 4th Marine Division, was killed in action on the 19th of February at Iwo Jima. It is believed that the Pond Hill Marine was killed during the early stages of the Iwo Jima battle when wave after wave of American Marines waded ashore from LSTs to attack the Japs in one of the greatest battles in American history. Two divisions of Marines, the 4th and the 5th, were the first ashore on February 19th, some 30,000 men, to drive inland for gains of 1,000 yards. Private First Class Wooster was well known here. He attended Naugatuck High School for three years and also attended the Bridgeport Trade School before enlisting in the service in March 1943. He received his basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and spent some months at Newport, Rhode Island, before being shipped overseas last September. He was married to Miss Shirley Smith of Ansonia in April of last year at St. Michael’s Church by Reverend Arthur F. Lewis. Prior to entering the service life, Wooster worked at the Barrel Foundry in Waterbury. He was a member of St. Michael’s Church here and was quite active in the Boy Scouts in his younger days.
From The Naugatuck Daily News April 16, 1948
Marine Detachment Leader Describes Final Arlington Rites for Harold Wooster
Joint Ceremonies Conducted for 18 Victims of War II
By Vernon J. Lafave, Commandant, Naugatuck Valley Detachment, Marine Corps League
(Special to the News) – Washington D.C., April 15 – Marine Private First Class Harold Carlyle Wooster of Naugatuck, Connecticut, was buried this afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery. Arriving at the cemetery shortly before 2 o’clock this afternoon, we were escorted to the burial site where 18 flag-draped caskets were placed end-to-end in a double row. The bright Southern sun warmly from the Stars and Stripes and the slight breeze ruffled the flags for whose honor the veterans gave their lives. The flag-draped caskets stood out in marked contrast to the pale, fluttering cherry blossoms, which are now in full bloom. Our group from Naugatuck, which accompanies Marine Wooster’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond C. Wooster, joined with others who came here to pay tribute to their honored dead. An Army band played several stirring marches as we assembled before the caskets. The bodies of the six Marines to be buried were guarded by Marines who had been assigned to the duty on the request of Representative James T. Patterson of Naugatuck. Others were guarded by members of the Army. Army chaplains, a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister, and a Jewish rabbi conducted the funeral services in the open in the new World War II section of the cemetery. After the 45-minute service, the band played “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and a volley was fired by the Army firing squad. Taps were sounded with the clear notes carrying across the hollow where Private First Class Wooster was buried, a short distance from the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The final resting place of Marine Wooster is in sight of the tomb and is opposite Washington’s famed Pentagon building. That section of the cemetery is thickly wooded, and there is an abundance of cherry blossoms. Natives of Washington told us that today was the most pleasant day they have had here this year. The cemetery consists of 180 acres, and each of the 60,000 graves is given attention. The grass on each pot is trimmed carefully. At the services with Mr. and Mrs. Wooster were Mr. Wooster’s brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Wooster of Indian Head, Maryland, Congressman Patterson and his secretary, William A. Painter, Adam Mengacci and Robert Lawsor of the Naugatuck Veterans Council; John Able, Harold Ash Jr., and Harold Ash of the Naugatuck Valley Detachment, Marine Corps League and Mrs. Bertha Harper, Mrs. Corine McClellan, Mrs. Harold Ash and Mrs. Hazel Schlesinger of the women’s auxiliary of the detachment. Those from the borough will leave here tonight and will return to Naugatuck on Friday.
Initially buried in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, Plot 1, Row 7, Grave 324. At his father’s request, his remains were repatriated and buried on April 15, 1948, in Arlington National Cemetery, 1 Memorial Drive, Arlington, Virginia; Section 12, Grave 4407. 3Photo by Jeff DeWitt.
Memorialized in the Wooster Family Cemetery, 70 East Waterbury Road, Naugatuck, Connecticut; plot number unknown. Photos by Jeff DeWitt.
1 – 1940 census https://www.ancestry.com/cs/1940-census
2 – https://ancestry.com
3 – USMC Casualty Report received via FOIA request
4 – USMC Muster Rolls: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1089/