★★★ Memorial Monday ★★★
Roger Netherland '48A (graduated June 1947) was from Beaver, Pennsylvania. In the Lucky Bag: "The Nittany Lion vented forth a roar of pain as if something vital was being torn from him. In a sense it was, but Penn State's loss proved to be Navy's gain in the form of Dutch Netherland. From that time Dutch has never ceased to keep the boys in good spirits with his sarcastic wit. We admire him for his tenacity in sport and school, for his taste in the finer things of life . . . notably women, for his famous utterances, and mostly for his ability to smile when the chips are down. His future shipmates will be enlivened by his wit and will find in him a true friend."
Roger, a Navy Captain, was lost on this date in 1967 when his A-4C attack plane was shot down near Haiphong, Vietnam. He was commanding officer of Carrier Air Wing 5, operating from USS Hancock.
Several remembrances of Roger are on VMH, along with photographs.
Survived by his wife Gloria, she became lifelong friends with Sybil (and later James) Stockdale while Roger was listed as MIA until the end of the war.
To Honor! ⚓
http://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/ROGER_M._NETHERLAND,_CAPT,_USN