LTC Roland E. Meiners
1923 - 1983
USAR
WWII
Roland Everett Meiners was born January 17, 1923 in Barrington to Orville and Laura Wells Meiners.
Meiners graduated from Barrington High School and attended Ripon College before he was inducted into the U.S. Army for service in World War II.
While serving with the 7th Army near Strasbourg, (France), Meiners was captured and confined, then liberated by a task force of tanks. When these tanks were confronted by a German column, only Meiners and four other American soldiers escaped. Unfortunately, they were recaptured and Meiners spent 3 ½ months of his eight-month tour in Europe as a prisoner of war. When he was liberated in June, 1945, he returned to the U.S. on the Queen Elizabeth two weeks later. Meiners was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant on March 5, 1946, but remained in the Army Reserves, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
While home on leave, he married Geraldine Grosse in Barrington on August 25, 1945; they raised four children.
Meiners worked for his father-in-law’s fur farm in McHenry before operating Chris-Mar Mink Farm in Barrington. He was a member of the North Barrington Zoning Commission until moving to East Troy, Wisconsin in 1972 to dairy farm.
LTC Roland Meiners died February 13, 1983 in Woods VA Hospital in Milwaukee. He is buried with his wife and family in Barrington’s Evergreen Cemetery.
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Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.