Roland Wayne Stephenson

Lieutenant Junior Grade Stephenson attended the Milwaukee State Teachers College before attending and graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a member of the Society of American Engineers and Pi Mu Epsilon and after graduating he was employed as a mechanical engineer at the plant of North American Aviation, Inc., in California.

LTJG Stephenson was commissioned as an ensign in the United States naval reserve in January, 1944, after which he received two months of training and indoctrination at Fort Schuyler, NY. From there he was sent to the navy yard at Washington, D.C., and then to the naval air training station at Jacksonville, FL. He was sent overseas in January, 1945 and received the promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, only a week before his death.