Lyle Roszell Died in Jap Prison Camp
Lyle T. Roszell, seaman first class, died Aug. 29, 1943, in a Japanese prisoner of war camp near Tarso, Thailand, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Judson Roszell, 1526 Jefferson street, have been informed by the war department.
Born Oct. 8, 1918, at Lake Park, Ia., he attended the Vinton, Ia. and Shellsburg, Ia. schools. He enlisted in the U. S. navy in May, 1940.
Following his boot training at Great Lakes, Ill., he was transferred aboard the Houston and was among the 350 men who drifted ashore after the cruiser was sunk in the Java sea battle. He was taken a prisoner of the Japanese at that time.
Surviving beside the parents are five brothers, Sgt. Dale, in the army at Tooele, Utah, Sgt. Nile, in the army at Nashville, Tenn., Harold, Wayne and Boyd, all at home; and three sisters, Mrs. Helen Riggell, La Porte City, Marilyn and Clara Marie, both at home.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Sunday, November 25, 1945, Section Two, Page 17 (photo included)
More War Dead on Returned Transport
The bodies of five men from this area are among the 1,922 returned war dead to the United States recently aboard the army transport Private John R. Towle, the department of the army announced Thursday.
Armed forces dead originally interred in temporary cemeteries in the Philippine Island and Hawaii are among those in the group. Thirty-six Iowans are among the group, all of whom died in the Pacific theater.
The list included Seaman Lyle T. Roszell of the navy, next of kin Judson S. Roszell of 1009 West Fifth street, Waterloo.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Thursday, June 16, 1949, Section Two, Page 17
IOWA DEATHS
Vinton. – The body of Lyle T. Roszell, seaman first class, who died Aug. 29, 1943, in a Jap prison camp at Tarso, Thailand, has been returned to Vinton for burial in Evergreen cemetery. Services will be Sunday at 3 p. m. from the Fry-Holland funeral home, with military rites in charge of the George G. Luckey American Legion post and the Smith-Geater post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, of Vinton.
The military escort accompanying the body to Vinton was the dead soldier’s brother, Cpl. Harold Roszell.
Lyle T. Roszell, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Judson Roszell, now living in Waterloo, was born Oct. 8, 1918, at Lake Park, Ia. He was a grandson of Mrs. Ida Roszell, a Vinton resident for many years.
The body was returned here from Honolulu, Hawaii.
Enlisting at Cedar Rapids in Mar., 1940, Roszell completed boot training at Great Lakes, Ill., and was assigned to the SS Houston; was taken prisoner by the Japs after his ship was sunk on Feb. 28, 1942, during the Java sea battle; burial was in a cemetery near the prison camp but the body was later moved to an American military cemetery at Honolulu.
Surviving are his parents and eight brothers and sisters: Mrs. Helen Riggle, Waterloo; Dale, La Porte City; Nile, Cincinnati, O.; Cpl. Harold Roszell, U. S. army; and Wayne, Marilyn, Boyd and Clara, at home.
He was a member of the Shellsburg Foursquare church.
Source: Waterloo Daily Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, Friday, July 29, 1949, Page 7
