Photo from Ancestry.com
Born: June 28, 1925
Died: March 7, 1945
Campaigns Served: Namur, Saipan (wounded), Iwo Jima
Highest Rank Attained: Corporal
Decorations: Purple Heart with Gold Star
Lionel Bolduc enlisted in the Marines at the young age of 17. He joined Able Company in the summer of 1943, and shortly after was made a Private First Class. Bolduc was somewhat headstrong - he was given five days on bread and water in December of 1943 for "insolence and insubordination to an NCO" - but soon proved himself a good Marine on Namur and Saipan. He was badly wounded on July 6, 1944, during the final stages of the Marine offensive on Saipan, and was evacuated to a Naval hospital.
Upon returning to the company, Bolduc was made a corporal and was put in charge of a rifle squad. He landed on Iwo Jima and fought until March 7, 1945, when he was killed.
A local newspaper reported the sad news:
"YOUNG MARINE DIES ON IWO JIMA - Marine Corporal Lionel Bolduc, 19, was killed in action on March 7, at Iwo Jima, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Euclid Bolduc of 23 Celestine St., Willimansett, were notified today. Corp. Bolduc had been badly hurt in action on July 6, at Saipan.
[Enlisting] in September, 1942, Corp. Bolduc was trained at Parris Island and New River. He is a Mt. Carmel and Chicopee Trade school graduate who was employed by the American Thread Co.
Mr. and Mrs. Bolduc's two other service sons are Tech. Sgt. Ernest Bolduc, 20, first engineer on a B-24 Liberator, overseas for nine months and now at Atlantic City, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Marcel Bolduc, 21, who has just returned to California after 15 days here.
The family has made arrangements for a pro-burial mass to be held the morning of April 14 at 9 in the Church of the Nativity."
Lionel Bolduc's grave, 4th Marine Division Cemetery, Iwo Jima. Note Mount Suribachi in the background.
Photograph from Ancestry.com
Bolduc's permanent grave in St. Rose de Lima of Chicopee Cemetery, Chicopee, Massachusetts.
Photograph by Dave Robison, FindAGrave.com volunteer.