Eugene A. Rooth, Staff Sergeant, U. S. Army Air Forces

37121988

831st Bomber Squadron, 485th Bomber Group, Heavy

Entered the Service from: Nebraska

Died: July 20, 1944

Buried at: Plot G Row 2 Grave 35, Florence American Cemetery Florence, Italy

Awards: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart

#1-Pilot Tribune 20 July 1944

Awarded Air Medal

Staff Sgt. Rooth, Former Kennardite, Veteran of 20 Missions

Staff Sgt. Eugene A. Rooth, 24, formerly of Kennard, has been awarded the Air Medal for “meritorious achievement in aerial flight while participating in sustained operations against the enemy.” A 15th Air Force Liberator engineer and top turret gunner, Sg.t Roth is a veteran of 20 missions against German installations. He has been over such prized and heavily defended targets as Munich, Vienna, and the Ploesti oil fields.

A former employee of the Ward drug store in Kennard and of Swift and Company in Omaha, Sgt. Rooth entered the air force in April, 1942. He was a graduate of Kennard high school, class of 1938.

His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carl E. Rooth of Lyons, formerly operated the Kennard telephone exchange.

#2-Pilot Tribune 3 Aug 1944

Sgt. Rooth Missing

Former Kennard Boy Was With Bomb Squadron In Italy

Staff Sgt. Eugene A. Rooth, former resident of Kennard, has been reported missing in action. A briefly-worded war department telegram which reached his relatives early this week revealed no details.

Stationed in Italy, it is not known whether Sgt. Rooth is lost in that country or over an enemy-held country in Fortress Europe.

#3-Enterprise 1 March 1945

Memorial Services For Sgt. Rooth On Sunday, March 11

Memorial services will be held at 2:3 Sunday, March 11th, at the Methodist church in Lyons for S Sgt. Eugene Rooth, who was killed in action somewhere over Italy, July 1944.

It has been asked that no flowers be given, but those who wish to give something may contribute to the Burt County memorial, which is to be erected soon.

S Sgt. Rooth lived in Kennard at one time and was graduated from Kennard high school in the class of 1938. His parents Mr. an Mrs. Carl Roth, were in charge of the telephone exchange there for a number of years.

He is survived by his wife and baby of Lyons, his father and sister, Elaine, in Wisconsin, another sister, Mrs. Willis Newell also of Lyons.

#4-Pilot Tribune 8 March 1945

Memorial Rites for Rooth on Sunday

Former Kennard Youth, Killed IN Action, To Be Honored at Lyons

Staff Sgt. Eugene A. Rooth of Lyons, formerly of Kennard, will be honored at a memorial service to be held Sunday, March 11, at the Methodist church of Lyons, Nebr. The service will begin at 1:30 p.m.

The family has requested that no flowers be sent to the service. They suggest, instead that those who wish to honor Sgt. Rooth’s memory contribute toward the World War II veterans memorial fund.

A graduate of Kennard high school, Sgt. Rooth died recently in the European theater of war.

#5-Pilot Tribune 22 March 1945

(Photo)

Honor Dead Flier

Memorial services were held in Lyons, Sunday, in honor of Staff Sgt. Eugene Rooth who was killed in action, July 20, 1944, when his plane was attacked while on a mission over Vienna, Austria.

The former Kennard man, aged 24 at the time of his death was graduated from Kennard high school in 1938. His wife, the former Dorothy Uehling of Lyons, and his 4-month-old son Michael Robert, survive. He also leaves his father, Carl E. Rooth of Sauk City, Wisc.; two sisters, Mrs. Wilbur Newell of Lyons and Elaine of Sauk City. His mother and a son, Richard Eugene, preceded him in death.

Following is an account of Sgt. Rooth’s army career:

Sgt. Rooth was inducted into the service in April, 1942, leaving for Jefferson Barracks, Mo. He took a course in mechanical and gunnery school at Chanute Field, Ill., later being sent to Wendover Field, Utah, where he received his Wings and rating of Staff Sergeant.

In March, 194, he was assigned to a crew and went to Boise, Ida., where he remained until Dec. 19, 1943, when he was sent to Fairmont, Nebr., for his overseas training, leaving the states in March, 1944. He was stationed in Italy where he was assigned to the 15th Air Force from where he went on many missions over enemy targets in Germany and Austria, and at the time of his death had completed his 50 missions, according to word received from headquarters of the 15h Air Force. His group has received a citation “for its successful attack on the Florisdorf oil refinery and rail yards in Vienna, Austria, last June. #6-Another article no date:

Word from Kennard Boys

Eugene Rooth of Lyons, a former Kennard boy, writes friends here that he is now in an air corps training school at a camp at Rantaul, Illinois. He reports that George Lauritsen of Kennard is attending the same school. Russell Leonard and Lester Sorensen, both of Kennard, are at Camp Grant, not far from Rantaul.

#7-Pilot Tribune 31 Dec 1942; Kennard News

Pvt Rooth is Married

Announce Marriage Of Eugene Rooth To Miss Dorothy Uehling

A card was received here last week telling of the marriage at Rockport, Missouri, last April 21, of Miss Dorothy Uehling, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Uehling of Lyons, and Private Eugene A. Roth, formerly of Kennard. The Rev. Alfred Mill of the Rockport Christian church officiated.

The couple was attended by Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Gustafson of Omaha, cousins of the groom. Mr. Rooth is the son of Carl Roth of Hastings, former telephone employee here, and was a member of the 1940 graduating class of Kennard high school. Private Rooth entered army service last spring, and at present is located at Wendover Field, Utah, taking training with the aerial gunnery squadron. Mrs. Rooth is making her home in Fremont where she has employment.

#8-16 Mar., 1950 - The Enterprise

EUGENE ROOTH BURIED IN ITALY

Kennard People will remember the Carl Rooth family, former residents of Kennard. The son Eugene Rooth, flier of World War II was reported as missing in action over Italy early in the war. No word as to the cause of his death was given nor the place of burial.

Eugene had kept the family informed of his doings and had written them prior to this last flight and had expressed the feeling that he would not return to give an account of the flight. From that date nothing was heard from him, and now the knowledge comes that he was buried in a military cemetery at Florence, Italy.

Note: Graduated from Kennard High School in 1938. Killed in action 20 July 1944. There are two Find A Grave Memorials- #56366316 and #94015625

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~