Viewing William W. Watson (1911-1944).

William W. Watson (1911-1944).

Born in China in 1911, educated in Northfield High School, a graduate of Carleton College and Harvard Law School, William Wallace Watson was admitted to the Minnesota bar on January 7, 1937, and joined the Stinchfield firm in Minneapolis. There he worked until 1940, when he became an Assistant Attorney General. After War was declared, he joined the Navy, which took advantage of his command of the Chinese language. On June 16, 1944, he was killed in an airplane crash near Chunking, China. In a memorial for the Hennepin County Bar Association the following year, he was recalled:

"Among the messages received after his death was one from H. H. Kung, Chinese Minister of Finance, who said in part, 'He gave his life for the country of his birth.' We know that he gave his life, not only for the country of his birth, but also for the country whose uniform he wore, for all of us who have stayed safely at home, and for a cause which transcends all national boundaries. This Association joins in honoring his memory, and in a steadfast resolution that his death, and the death of other young men in the same cause, will not be in vain."

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