Kermit Roosevelt

Kermit was born at Sagamore Hill, the family estate in Oyster Bay, New York, the second son of Theodore Roosevelt, (1858–1919) and Edith Kermit Carow (1861–1948).

He had an older half-sister Alice Lee Roosevelt (1884–1980), from his father's first marriage to Alice Hathaway Lee (1861–1884), an elder brother, Theodore III (1887–1944), a younger sister, Ethel Carow Roosevelt (1891–1977), and two younger brothers; Archibald Bulloch "Archie" Roosevelt (1894–1979) and Quentin Roosevelt (1897–1918).

As a child, he had little resistance to illness and infection.

He had a flair for language, however, and read avidly.

He showed a talent for writing that led to recording his experiences in World War I in a book.

After attending the Groton School, he enrolled at Harvard College.

Kermit Roosevelt Sr. MC (October 10, 1889 – June 4, 1943) was an American businessman, soldier, explorer, and writer.

In 1909, as a freshman, he and his father (recently out of office as president)—both of whom loved nature and outdoor sports—went on a year-long expedition in Africa funded by the Smithsonian Institution.

After this trip and a swing through Europe, Roosevelt returned to Harvard and completed four years of study in two and a half years, graduating with the Class of 1912.

Like his father, while at Harvard he was a member of the Porcellian Club, a student social organization.

Roosevelt became active in the Boone and Crockett Club, a wildlife conservation organization that had been co-founded by his father.

One commentator wrote that Kermit embodied the ideals of the club perhaps more purely than anyone, including his father.

One of Theodore Roosevelt's most popular books, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, recounted the expedition into the Amazon Basin Brazilian jungle in 1913–14.

The father and son went on what would become known as the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition, exploring the Brazilian jungle with explorer Colonel Cândido Rondon.

During this expedition, they explored the River of Doubt, later renamed Rio Roosevelt in honor of the President, as well as a branch of that river named the Rio Kermit in his honor.

The source of the river had been discovered by Rondon earlier, but it had never been fully explored or mapped.

At the time of the expedition, Roosevelt was newly engaged to Belle Wyatt Willard, daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Spain.

His mother Edith was concerned about her husband's health and the difficulties of a new expedition, and asked Kermit to accompany his father.

He did so, reluctantly delaying his marriage.

The scope of the expedition expanded beyond the original plans, leaving the participants inadequately prepared for a trip tracing the River of Doubt from its source through hundreds of kilometers of uncharted rainforest.

The climate and terrain, inadequate gear and food, and two deaths (one drowning, the other murder) turned a scientific expedition into an ordeal.

Roosevelt's father contracted malaria and a serious infection resulting from a minor leg wound, weakening him to the point that he considered taking a fatal dose of morphine rather than being a burden to his companions.

Roosevelt told his father that he was bringing him back literally "dead or alive" and if he died, he would be an even bigger burden to the expedition.

Although Roosevelt contracted malaria as well, he downplayed his sickness to save quinine for TR, nearly dying himself before the physician insisted on giving him the medication by injection.

Roosevelt's determination and his rope- and canoe-handling skills were instrumental in saving his father's life.

Nonetheless, TR was plagued by flareups of malaria and inflammation so severe that they required hospitalization.

Although Kermit and TR faced skepticism about their claims of navigating a completely uncharted river over 1000 km long, they eventually silenced their critics through TR's oratory and his popular book, Through the Brazilian Wilderness. The 1913–14 expedition was later recounted in The River of Doubt by Candice Millard (Doubleday 2005).

After the Amazon trip, in 1914 Kermit married Belle Wyatt Willard, daughter of the U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Joseph Edward Willard.

They had four children: Kermit Roosevelt Jr.., Joseph Willard Roosevelt, Belle Wyatt "Clochette", and Dirck.

His daughter, Clochette Roosevelt, married John Gorham Palfrey, who was dean of Columbia College and a member of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

From 1914 to 1916, Roosevelt was assistant manager for National City Bank in Buenos Aires.

In 1917, as he was about to be transferred to a Russian branch, the U.S. entered the World War.

He attended the Plattsburg School for officers from May to July 1917 but resigned from the U.S. Army to join the British Army.

On August 22, 1917, Roosevelt was appointed an honorary captain in the British Army.

He saw hard fighting in the Near East, later transferring to the United States Army.

While his other brothers had had summer training at Plattsburgh, New York, Roosevelt had missed out on this training.

Roosevelt joined the British Army to fight in the Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) theater of World War I.

A son of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, Kermit graduated from Harvard College, served in both World Wars (with both the British and U.S. Armies), and explored two continents with his father.

He fought a lifelong battle with depression and died by suicide while serving in the US Army in Alaska during World War II.

He was attached to the 14th Light Armoured Motor Battery of the Machine Gun Corps, but the British High Command decided they could not risk his life and so they made him an officer in charge of transport (Ford Model T cars).