Friday, 6/7

He died 75 years ago this Sunday.

Arthur W. Lemieux  was born in Marquette on April 20^th, 1920, to Arthur E. and Jessie Lemieux. He was the second of five children; his dad worked at and later owned the old Marquette Steam Laundry, which sat where the parking lot behind Donckers and the Delft is now located. He went to (but didn’t graduate from) Graveraet High School, and worked as, among other things, a taxi driver until World War II, when he joined the 82^nd Airborne. As part of the 505^th Parachute Infantry Regiment, he made the jump into France the night before the D-Day landings, helping to secure the town of Ste. Mere Eglise. Three days later, June 9^th, he was trying to cross a field near that town when he was shot & killed by a German machine gunner. He was temporarily buried in Ste. Mere Eglise, and his body was brought back to the U.S. in 1949, where he was laid to rest in Park Cemetery.

And that’s where his story ended, at least for the next half century.

Now flash forward to the summer of 2000. A young couple decides to spend a nice afternoon walking through Park Cemetery, and having seen “Saving Private Ryan” several times, the female half of the couple looks around to see if she can find the headstones of anyone who died in World War II. The first grave she finds is that of Arthur W. Lemieux. She does a little research into his story, which has been lying untold for 45 years, and that starts her on an epic project that, almost two decades later, is still an ongoing effort.

You can guess who the young couple was, right?

Arthur W. Lemieux will always have a soft spot in Loraine’s heart; after all, you don’t easily forget someone who changed your life like that. Because of him, she’s spent most of the past two decades researching not only his story but those of 243 other men & women from Marquette and Alger County who died during the conflict. And because of him, we’ve spent a lot of time in France, traipsing around dirt roads and farm fields, retracing the steps of his final days. Thanks to some very helpful people (especially his squad leader, the late and very knowledgeable Spencer Wurst), we know what happened to him on his final day. We know the squad left Ste. Mere Eglise with orders to take the Montebourg railway station. They walked past the village of Fresville, and down this dirt road--

Once down the road, they rounded a corner, came upon a stone quarry, and then attempted to cross this farm field--

What they didn’t know was that there was a German machine gun nest nearby with a perfect view of the field. Spencer Wurst tried to cross the field first, and was pinned down by gunfire. Lemieux and a Massachusetts native named Eli Potty tried to attack the machine gun nest, but died in the attempt.

And now you know his story. A story that, sadly, came to an end 75 years ago Sunday.

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On that note, have yourself an amazing weekend, especially if turns out as warm as the forecast promises. I, personally, am looking forward to seeing what these do in the sun and the heat--

You'll see the results Monday. Trust me—you'll see the results Monday!

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

(ps—don't forget you have the weekend left to vote on which picture I'll be putting on my notebook desktop for the foreseeable future. Scroll down to Tuesday's entry for the choices; the one currently in the lead may, in fact, have a little something to do with those blossoms I'm hoping to see this weekend).