Omer Duquette was born on January 25, 1916, in West Warwick, Rhode Island. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on February 2, 1938, and served at Fort Slocum, New York, and at Albrook Field in the Panama Canal Zone before serving with the 37th Bomb Squadron of the 17th Bomb Group at Pendleton Field, Oregon, until he was selected for the Doolittle Mission in February 1942. Sergeant Duquette was the engineer/gunner on the 12th B-25 to take off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) on April 18, 1942, and after bombing its assigned targets in Yokohama, Japan, the crew bailed out over China when their aircraft ran out of fuel. After the raid he remained in the China-Burma-India Theater, and served as a B-25 gunner with the 11th Bomb Squadron of the 341st Bomb Group in India until he was killed in action on June 3, 1942. His remains have never been returned to the United States.

His Distinguished Flying Cross Citation reads:

For extraordinary achievement while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese Mainland on April 18, 1942. Sergeant Duquette volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on Sergeant Duquette and the military services.