DOB/DOD: September 28, 1920 (East Hartford, CT) – February 22, 1945; 24 years old
MARITAL STATUS: Married Dorothy Bailey (1923-2019) on December 18, 1943, in Middletown, CT
LOCAL ADDRESS: b589 Main Street, East Hartford
ENLISTMENT: October 6, 1943, in Quantico, Virginia
SERVICE NUMBER: O-31036
UNIT: Company F, 2nd Battalion, 21st Marines, 3rd Marine Division
MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY: 1542, Infantry Platoon Leader
FAMILY: Born to Robert D. Olmsted (1884-1967) and Scotland-born Jemima Christie Olmstead (1889-1967. Roger was their only child. 1, 2
CIRCUMSTANCES: In January of 1943 was assigned to the 3rd Reserve District, Platoon Leaders Unit, New York City. Boot camp followed in July 1943. Assigned to the Thirty-Fifth Candidates Class, Company I, Quantico, Virginia, then the Headquarters Battalion, First Casual Company, Camp Lejeune, New River, North Carolina. In July 1944, assigned to the 61st Replacement Battalion, Pacific. In January 1945, he was assigned to the 3rd Marine Division, 21st Marines, 2nd Battalion. 4 Died of a gunshot wound to the head. 3
East Hartford High School Class of ’39 yearbook. All photos were contributed by Kristine P. Emond, Library Media Specialist at East Hartford High School.
University of Connecticut Class of 1943 (photo and caption in 1942 yearbook)
1943 UConn football team
1943 UConn track team
Attended the University of Connecticut, Class of 1943. He was the captain of the track team and set two school records in the hammer throw. He set the indoor hammer throw record of 46 feet during the 1942-43 indoor season against Amherst College. It is unknown how long that record was held. He set the outdoor hammer throw record in 1943 of 138 feet, eight inches in a meet vs. Mass. State (UMass) and WPI. It appears that the record held until 1953. Record information courtesy of Mike Enright, UConn.
From The Hartford Courant November 2, 1944
Marine Credits War Dog with Saving 12-Man Unit
Marine Second Lieutenant Roger W. Olmsted of 1589 Main Street, East Hartford, credits Rocky, a Doberman Pinscher war dog, with saving the lives of members of a 12-man Marine patrol on Guam, according to a dispatch from the Pacific area. The patrol, under Lieutenant Olmsted’s command, was resting at the edge of a jungle clearing when the dog began to growl. Alerted, the Marines discovered five Haps, armed with grenades less than 10 feet away, and killed them all, suffering no casualties themselves. Lieutenant Olmsted is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Olmsted and the husband of Mrs. Dorothy B. Olmsted. He is a graduate of East Hartford High School and the University of Connecticut, where he was active in track and football. The East Hartford officer entered active duty upon his graduation from college in 1943 and has been overseas since June 18.
From The Hartford Courant January 9, 1949
The body of Lieutenant Roger Wolcott Olmsted, of the Marine Corps, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Olmsted of 1589 Main Street, East Hartford, will arrive in Hartford on Monday. Lieutenant Olmsted was killed in action during the invasion of Iwo Jima on February 21, 1945. He was an officer in the 21st Regiment, Third Marine Corps Division, the first regiment to land on the island. More than half of his company were casualties in the landing. Lieutenant Olmsted enlisted in the Marines in 1942 and was allowed to complete his senior year at the University of Connecticut. In June 1943, he was sent to Parris Island for basic training, which was completed at Quantico, Virginia, where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and was the holder of the Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the Expert Rifleman’s Medal. He was born in East Hartford on September 28, 1920, and graduated from East Hartford High School in 1939. He was a member of the high school football and track teams. He entered the University of Connecticut in 1939, where he was a member of the varsity track and football teams. He was the Captain of the track team in 1943. He leaves, besides his parents, his wife, the former Dorothy Bailey of Middletown, now Mrs. Henry Drinkwater of Dallas, Texas. Services will be held Tuesday at the Newkirk and Whitney Funeral Home, 921 Main Street, East Hartford. Burial with military honors will be in Center Cemetery, East Hartford. Friends may call at the funeral home after 4 p.m. on Monday. Members of the East Hartford Veterans Committee will post a guard of honor at the funeral home from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday.
Initially buried in 3rd Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima, Row 2, Grave 28. At his family’s request, his remains were repatriated and buried on January 8, 1949, in Center Cemetery, 928 Main Street, East Hartford, Connecticut; Section BH, Lot 114. 3Photo by Jeff DeWitt.
East Hartford had a Lieutenant Roger Wolcott Olmsted Day on February 23, 2021
1 – 1940 census https://www.ancestry.com/cs/1940-census
2 – https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2238
3 – USMC Casualty Report received via FOIA request
4 – USMC Muster Rolls: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1089/