FIRST LOCAL CASUALTY IN PRESENT WAR
Message Arrives on 2nd Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Attack – Details Unknown
Farmington’s first war casualty is Sergeant Roger S. Lundgren, age 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lundgren of Castle Rock Township.
Roger died from an accident, December 2 at Auckland, a city of 212,139 population in the north end of New Zealand, according to a telegram received Tuesday on the second anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in which battle Roger was one of the participants. Rev. J.S. Kettlewell, pastor of the Farmington M.E. church where the Lundgrens are members, delivered the telegram at the farm home at 9:00 Tuesday morning.
The official telegram from the war department expressed regrets and stated that a letter containing details was following.
Roger was a sergeant in the infantry, training mechanics in the operation of jeeps and tanks.
Roger S. Lundgren, son of Henry and Esther (Kraft) Lundgren, was born June 10, 1920, in Castle Rock Township. After attending grade school at Dist. 53, he came to Farmington school and was graduated from the high school in the class of 1938. He was a letterman in football, basketball and track and took active parts in the glee club and social work at the school. From high school he attended Dunwoody Institute for two years taking a course in auto mechanics. After leaving there he took a position for a short time with R. Rechzigel of Rosemount, doing mechanical work.
On July 8, 1940 Roger enlisted in the army for foreign service and was sent to Fort McDowell off the coast of California where he spent two months before being sent to the Hawaiian Islands. He was in the Pearl Harbor attack December 7, 1941, and remained at the Hawaiian Islands until last Christmas when he left of an unknown destination in the Pacific Ocean.
He was promoted to a tech. Sergeant a year after his enlistment and a year and a half ago was made a sergeant. One of his recent letters said he probably would be sent back to the states for officers training. He has never had a furlough.
His last letter about three weeks ago stated he was in a hospital, but okay. “Too much sun”, he wrote and the home folks didn’t know whether he had had a sunstroke or had gotten too much “Rising Sun” meaning the Japs.
Several neighbors and friends have already received Christmas cards from Roger.
Besides his parents he is survived by one brother, Eugene, of Farmington and one sister.