Lieutenant James Slaughter Quesenberry | New Mexico State University

Air Medal

James Slaughter Quesenberry was born to Mr and Mrs George Quesenberry on May 13, 1916. He was raised in Las Cruces. His was a family already deeply entrenched in the institution. He was the nephew of Captain Joseph Quesenberry, the fist Aggie to give his life in France during the First World War and for whom the football field was named and his father served as Director of the Cooperative Extension Service. He entered NMAMC to study agriculture in 1934. He graduated in 1940 with his degree in Agronomy. In April 1942 he joined the USAAF and was sent to Deming Air Field for his training as a Bombardier. Upon completion of his training he was sent to the SW Pacific Theater as a crew member aboard a B-25 Mitchell bomber piloted by Lt Robert Cutinelle assigned to the 498th Bomb Squadron, 345th Bomb Group. The plane and crew arrived at Nasdab Field New Guinea in April of 1944. Over the next 40 plus days they would participate in 35 combat missions.

On May 11, 1944 they were assigned a weather reconnaissance mission to Annenberg and Wakde. Their last radio contact was 11 miles west of Madang. They were not heard from again. There is no knowledge of their fate. However, Copilot Charles Knight's body was recovered along with more remains but none have yet been identified. Lt James Slaughter Quesenberry remains MIA and is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery. He was two days short of his 29th birthday at the time of his death and was survived by his wife, the former Margaret Gallup, Class of ‘39.