Nashua native Col. Roland Lajoie, U.S. Army, had just arrived home in his West Berlin residence. The date was March 24, 1985. Lajoie, at the time, was the chief of the U.S. Military Liaison Mission, a joint effort established between the British, French, and U.S. forces and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (East Germany) as the occupying forces at the end of World War II, but at the time, they also had a classified intelligence-gathering secondary mission and an important role to verify that Soviet offensive action was not being prepared.

On this particular day, Major Arthur Nicholson, and a driver, Staff Sergeant Jessie G. Schatz were on a mission to photograph a Soviet tank storage building near Ludwigslust, some 100 miles northwest of Berlin. Nicholson, whom everyone called “Nick,” was one of 14 American officers accredited to the Soviet command in East Germany along with support staff as part of a postwar 1947 agreement by the occupying forces. The Soviets were allowed to station reciprocal numbers of officers in West Germany. Although the agreement granted the accredited personnel complete freedom to travel, the Soviet and Western interpretations of where U.S., British, and French teams were allowed to go differed, and aggressive Soviet behavior was responsible for unwarranted injuries and the deaths of Nicholson and French mission members.

After approaching the Soviet facility covertly but legitimately through an adjacent forest, Nicholson stepped out of his vehicle and approached the building to photograph it while Sergeant Schatz maintained a watch for Soviet personnel. Unseen by either man, a Soviet sentry fired aimed shots at the unarmed Americans without warning. A bullet went whistling by Schatz’s ear, the next bullet went through Nicholson’s chest and exited his back. He cried out as he fell to the ground. Schatz attempted to reach Nicholson to provide whatever aid he could but was driven back at gunpoint by another Soviet sentry. Nicholson received no aid from the Soviets and they forbade help from anyone else. He bled out, lying on the ground – and Colonel Lajoie, being the top-ranking officer, was summoned.

Lajoie received a call from his headquarters. The Soviets were demanding to see him in person, immediately – and he had no idea why – but it didn’t sound good. As chief of the U.S. Military Liaison Mission, Lajoie regularly sent intelligence-gathering patrols into communist East Germany and confrontations were not unusual. But he’d never gotten a call to respond personally to an incident. He remembered thinking that an incident may have happened with a civilian.

Lajoie grabbed a driver and another officer, U.S. Marine Lt Col. Lawrence Kelley, and headed out at high speed toward the site, about a two-hour drive away. Soviet troops met Lajoie and escorted him to the site of the shooting, not telling him what happened. By that time, it was dark, and a ring of military trucks were positioned in a circle shining their headlights towards the center. Lajoie thought, “This is bad…”

The Americans were presented with a vehicle containing Sergeant Schatz, but no Major Nicholson. When questioned about the whereabouts of the 37-year-old Major, there were several tense seconds of silence. Then a Soviet officer simply responded, “He’s dead.”

Lajoie knew this could turn into a serious international incident. A Soviet soldier had shot an unarmed U.S. Army officer. Lajoie knew the reconnoitering missions were dangerous, but still… this was a shock. Adding to the stress, this came only two weeks after Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader. It was his first major crisis – how would he handle it? At the scene, Lajoie met the three-star Soviet General who was the Chief of Staff of the Group of Soviet Forces – Germany. The Soviet senior officer immediately declared “Colonel, I must register the most decisive protest over the conduct of personnel under your command…” Lajoie “interrupted him and incredulously asked, “General, you have shot and killed one of my officers and you are protesting?” The Soviets were demanding they perform an autopsy on Nicholson, interrogate Sgt Schatz, and commandeer the vehicle Schatz was driving. The Soviets, in typical fashion, were blaming Nicholson’s death on the Americans. Fortunately, Lajoie and Kelley were both fluent in Russian, and they weren’t having any of it. A long and heated discussion followed, the Russian General sometimes lapsing into tirades. Lajoie held his ground though, and around midnight, the matter was settled enough so that Lajoie with Schatz, and Kelley escorting the body of Major Nicholson began the trip back to Berlin.

With the death of an American officer at the hands of a Soviet guard, and seeing that aid to that fallen officer was denied by the Soviets, things could have gotten ugly. With his training and experience in dealing with the Russians, Lajoie was able to keep things from spiraling out of control. Upon the return of Nicholson’s remains to U.S. control in West Germany, American military doctors examined him and concluded that given his fatal wound, there was nothing anyone could have done to save him. Nicholson was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

Major General Roland Lajoie was born in Nashua, N.H., on August 11, 1936, the youngest of eight children in this modest working-class family. The family had several different addresses all in the “Tree Streets” area of Nashua, starting with Palm Street. He was of French-Canadian ancestry, as were many Nashuans. His parents came from Canada following the lumber/wood trade. His father worked for a time at a casket company, possibly Indian Head Casket on E. Hollis St.

Lajoie’s daughter, Michelle Detwiler shed some light on her grandparent’s home, “The family didn’t have a lot of money. With so many kids, I’m sure they shared beds. No matter their address it was always a rented place. At one point my dad earned a few dollars for himself shining shoes on the corner of Canal and Main Street. The family spoke French at home, so naturally, my father was fluent in French and English. Later in life, my father became fluent in Russian. He even got the Russian accent right!”

Detwiler continues, “My grandparents never learned English so the kids had to help them. When he was 11 years old, my dad had to serve as a translator for his mother during a trip to see her family back in Canada. He arranged for the train trip and everything.”

Lajoie graduated from Nashua High School, class of 1954. Daughter Michelle commented, “My grandfather thought my dad should go to work in the textile mills right out of high school – like so many other people of that era. He thought it was time for my father to start contributing funds to the household. But dad’s siblings wanted him to go to college, and helped fund his further education at the University of NH where he earned a bachelor’s degree in government.”

While at UNH, Lajoie played lacrosse – a game he had never attempted before but developed a great love for it. He played all four years earning a membership in the UNH Varsity Club. During his senior year, Lajoie and his good friend, Doug MacKenzie from Pembroke, NH were co-captains, leading their team to a 10-2 record. His friends and co-players called him Rollie.

Lajoie was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1958 upon graduating from college. His first duty assignment was in a Transportation unit at Fort Story, Virginia where he learned the finer points of logistics – moving military supplies from place to place.

In 1959 he was sent to a Transportation unit in Korea and promoted to First Lieutenant. A year later he was assigned to another Transportation unit at Fort Devens in Shirley, MA. Lajoie experienced some big changes in his life in 1961. He married JoAnn Sinibaldi and was made a Company Commander for a Transportation unit at Camp Drum in upstate New York.

In 1962 Lajoie changed branches from Transportation to Military Intelligence and was promoted to Captain. He was made Detachment Commander for the 1st Military Intelligence Battalion at Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty), North Carolina.

From 1964 to 1966, Lajoie was the Assistant Intelligence Officer for Operations, the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. From here, in the same capacity, he was sent to Vietnam. He was promoted to Major in 1967.

Daughter Michelle remembers her father’s time in Vietnam, “My father was very family-oriented. He loved my mother; he loved his kids. And although he traveled a lot, we always tried to stay in communication. When he was in Vietnam, we were able to communicate via the MARS system. This was the Military Auxiliary Radio System, a DoD-sponsored program engaging both military and civilian radio operators around the world. It was rather clunky to use. After each statement, you had to say ‘Over’ and then wait several seconds for the message to go through. Then you would get a statement in reply and the person on the other end would again say ‘Over’ so you knew it was your turn to talk.”

While still in Vietnam, Lajoie was given a test to determine his aptitude to learn a foreign language – Russian to be precise. For a man fluent in both French and English, learning Russian wasn’t too much of a stretch. So, in 1967 and 68, Lajoie was a Russian language student in Washington, DC.

This was followed by time at the U.S. Army Russian Institute in Garmisch, West Germany. The good part of this was, he was able to be with his family in Germany. Daughter Michelle explains, “We were in Garmisch, an Alpine ski town in the south of Germany, close to Austria and Switzerland. The scenery in breathtaking. When my dad had time off, we were always hiking or skiing.”

In 1970 and 71, Lajoie was off to the University of Colorado to learn Russian history. The good news was, his family could join him there. The bad news was, that during this time, the anti-Vietnam war sentiment was at its height. Daughter Michelle remembers, “It seems anti-war demonstrations were always going on at the university. My father dressed in civilian clothes to blend in with the other students, which seemed to be the best strategy for that time.”

For a year starting in 1971, Lajoie was back in Vietnam as the Liaison Officer, 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 1st Military Intelligence Battalion. His work supported the U.S. military air reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, as well as attack and destruction of targets including direct support of U.S. ground troops.

In 1972/73, Lajoie was a student at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Upon completion, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Lajoie then served as a military attaché at the U.S. Embassy, Moscow, where he represented the U.S. Department of Defense to the host nation, provided military advice to the U.S. Ambassador, and reported on political-military activities. He became an expert on Soviet military capabilities and found himself at the intersecting point of the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Once again, Lajoie was able to have his family with him in Moscow. Daughter Michelle remembers life in Moscow, “I was in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade during our time in Moscow. We had a lot of friends there – kids from the other embassies. The funny thing was, as Americans, we stood out like sore thumbs. While all the Russians dressed in very heavy woolen coats and boots that all looked the same, we had brightly colored parkas made of lightweight material, and nowhere near as bulky. Winter in Moscow is wonderful. The locals didn’t seem to mind the cold too much, and everyone was on ice skates. Walkways in Gorky Park were flooded, frozen over, similar to the ice-skating rinks created by the Park/Rec Department in Nashua, and festively lighted for night skating.”

Daughter Michelle continues, “It seemed there was virtually no crime in Moscow. Being a police state there were police officers everywhere. It was even safe for me, as a kid, to ride on the metro system alone. One of the downsides about living in Moscow was, that there was one source for news, the state-run Pravda. They gave a very stunted and negative view of the U.S., information that I and my family knew was not true, but everyone in Russia believed it. They knew nothing else.”

Then, from 1976 to 1979, Lajoie served as Commander for the U.S. Army Russian Institute, back in Garmisch, West Germany. In 1979/1980, Lajoie was the Commander for the 1st Psychological Operations Battalion at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

In 1980, Lajoie was promoted to Colonel.

During the 1980 to 1981 academic year, Lajoie was a student at the United States Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania with duty at the Russian Research Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lajoie went back to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 1981 to 1983 to resume his duty as a military attaché.

From 1983 to 1986, he served as the Chief – U.S. Military Liaison Mission, Berlin West Germany where he was responsible for coordination between the U.S. Commander in Chief, Europe, and Commander in Chief, Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. He was responsible for collecting critical information on Soviet military activities and war preparations.

In 1986, Lajoie was promoted to Brigadier General. His next assignment, in 1986 to 1988, was as a military attaché in Paris. He advised the U.S. Ambassador on military matters and represented the Department of Defense to the host nation.

Lajoie became the Director of the On-Site Inspection Agency, Washington, DC from 1988 to 1991. After President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev signed the historic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in December 1987, Lajoie was selected as the first Director of the new organization charged with verifying Soviet compliance with the treaty. Lajoie created the On-Site Inspection Agency from concept to a finished, functioning operation in a matter of months.

In 1992, Lajoie was selected by General Colin Powell to establish and lead a new Office of Military Affairs within the Central Intelligence Agency. His job was to address coordination shortfalls identified during the first Gulf War and increase cooperation between the CIA and the Department of Defense.

Lajoie retired from the U.S. Army in May, 1994.

From 1994 to 1998, Lajoie served as the Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Cooperative Threat Reduction. In this capacity, he led the Pentagon’s efforts to assist Russia in decommissioning and securing nuclear, chemical, and biological stockpiles located in the newly independent, former Soviet states. It is hard to overstate the importance of this accounting for weapons of mass destruction during the chaotic period following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The CTR resulted in the deactivation of over 13,000 nuclear warheads and secured thousands of pounds of fissile material, weapons that might have fallen into dangerous hands.

In 1998, Lajoie became a Special Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, assisting in the consolidation of three Cold War-era agencies.

In 1998, then-President Bill Clinton appointed Lajoie the U.S. Chairman to the U.S./Russia Joint Commission on Prisoners of War and MIA. His job was to investigate all outstanding cases of unaccounted military personnel from both sides since WWII about which either government might have archival or other pertinent information. This allowed U.S. researchers to explore Soviet archives for U.S. soldiers who had been missing in action for over 60 years. It was through the efforts of this team that the WWII crash site of a U.S. bomber was found in the Kamchatka Peninsula, one of the most desolate, and inhospitable places in Russia. It is possible that the bomber was on its way to a mission over Japan and may have crashed in bad weather. A reconnaissance team was sent out to see what was left of the wreckage. Everything lay just as it had settled after the plane went down. Unfortunately, the crash and wild animals had scattered the remains. Through DNA testing all crew members were identified. Lajoie was very proud of his team for this find.

In 1979, Lajoie and his wife purchased an old colonial house in Wilton, NH in which they lived for 40 years. The records that could be found on the house went back to 1808, but he knew the house was older. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed all the older records.

Major General Roland Lajoie died October 28, 2023 (aged 87) in Manchester, NH, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. “My father was a very loving, family man.” said daughter Michelle. “He took care of my mother and us kids. Although his job took him away a lot, we still felt close.” In summarizing his life, a December 2023 editorial in the Union Leader concluded with the highest praise, characterizing Lajoie as a native son of New Hampshire.

Thanks to the following for their assistance:

Michelle Detwiler – Daughter
Keith Detwiler – Son-in-law
David Rising / Associated Press / Article dated March 24, 2015

Resources:
Unit History, United States Military Liaison Mission to the Commander in Chief, Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, 1985. Declassified on 12 February 1998. https://coldwarspies.com/resources/uh1985cpr.pdf (page 1)
Unit History, United States Military Liaison Mission to the Commander in Chief, Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, 1985. Declassified on 12 February 1998. https://coldwarspies.com/resources/uh1985cpr.pdf (page 1)
William E. Stacy, The Nicholson Incident; A Case Study of US-Soviet Negotiations, Headquarters, US Army, Europe and 7th Army, Military History Office. Declassified by G2 USAREUR on 25 October 2004. https://coldwarspies.com/resources/nicholson1.pdf (page 23)