Clarence
Oliver Roettger
Information comes from the Mizpah, a
publication of the Salem Methodist Church, Newport Ky. 15 Sep 1945, Volume 11,
No 12
CLARENCE OLIVER ROETTGER
2nd Lieutenant US Army Air Force, Air Medal with One Oak Leaf Cluster and Purple Heart
Clarence was born at Southgate on June 25, 1923. He graduated from Newport High School, Class of '41 and was holding down a war job when called to active military service on 28 January 1943. He was soon enrolled in an Officers School and after preliminary training at Nashville, Tennessee, and Maxwell Field, Alabama, he received his final training as an Aviation Cadet at the Clarksdale School of Aviation, Clarksdale, Mississippi.
He was then recommended for further training as a Bombardier at Mood Field, Georgia, Tyndall Field, Florida and San Angelo, Texas, receiving his commission as a Second Lieutenant at Randolph Field Texas on 18 March 1844. Shortly thereafter he was assigned to the 15th Air Force for duty overseas and in July we find him in North Africa on his was to Tunisia and Italy.
From there his unit made some twenty successful flights over enemy territory. The flight from which his Liberator Bomber failed to return was over Hungary and Austria on 23 August 1944 and to this day no definite information has been received as to his fate. The War Department made a find of 'presumptive death' as of 24 August 1945 and on Sunday September 2, Salem honored him with a Memorial Service.