Roy Thomas Routh was born in 1923, in Brown County, Texas. The oldest of three children and his sister the youngest, Roy learned to do many things in the home and outside the home: take care of the farm animals, milk, plow, plant, harvest, butcher, cook, sew, quilt, can fruits and vegetables and many other skills.

It is not surprising that he was awarded medals for a job well done and given a certificate for Valor. For him, no job was too big nor too little but what it must be done right and done well. It was a job. It was important.

As with so many other men from the WWII era, he did not talk much about his experiences. He taught his children a lot about the War, but never any gory details; just his memories of pleasant things: the people he was around, the places he saw, and a LOT about airplanes of the era. Roy kept all his military records. From his recalled memories and his military records, family member has truly learned what a wonderful man he was.

There is a photograph of him, taken during the War. He is not smiling, looking pretty glum. On the back, he wrote, "Government Picture for file in Washington. Future reference for comparison so they can tell the effects (of war) on soldiers. Look like I've had it." He did look like he had had it. He did not let his experiences in the War define him, rather he let them be stepping stones in his life.

Roy was a quiet man. He had a very good sense of humor and could be a prankster. He never felt the need to be what is today called "out front," to be seen and heard. He was satisfied with being in the background, but he never shied away from telling what he thought when it was necessary.

Roy married and had children and grandchildren, though he never knew his grandchildren well. He died at sixty years old of a massive heart attack.