Livermore Falls High School - Banner Yearbook (Livermore Falls, ME)

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THE BANNER 15 Our Graduates in Service 1932-1938 From a total of 68 graduates from L. F. H. S. in these years Q1932-1938j 61 pictures are represented in the three plate pages. Two of the 68 graduates, Capt. Ford Berry '33 and P.F.C. Dana Edwards '36, were included in the 1946 BANNER under the column heading, They Gave Their Lives. Pictures of P.F.C. Alfred Cox '32 and Capt. Carroll Parker '32 were not available in their families. It was impossible to contact in any way Louis Quaglieri '33, Benoit Poisson '36 or Albert Castonguay '37, so neither picture nor record of these three men is included in this 1947 issue of the BANNER. It is hoped that in the 1948 yearbook these men can be represented. 1 9 3 Z fNo picturej Pvt. Alfred Cox '32 served with the 157th Regiment f2nd Battalionj, 45th Divi- sion. In this Sixth Army Group, Cox saw a great deal of action in Sicily, Salerno and An- zio. The Battalion participated in the Battle of Bloody Ridge, helping to clear a vital road to Messina. It battled on the beaches of Salerno, slugging it out with Kraut Armor and Infantry. After 72 days of front line duty, it was relieved to prepare for the Anzio landing. There, during the Battle of the Caves, it held tenaciously for six days to its position until the American Artillery with pinpoint accuracy broke up the German onslaught. For its heroic stand the battalion received a Presidential cita- tion. Later the division landed in Southern France and was in combat 86 days and nights from the landing beaches to the hills of the Vosges Mountains. 1. C. R. M. Gardell Mandigo '32 was called to service December, 1940. He was on the U. S. S. Memphis for three years. He attended a radio and radar school at Norfolk, Virginia, where he was made Chief Warrant Officer. He was then stationed in France and in Northern Africa helping in the setting up of radio sta- tions and specializing in the field of trouble shooting . After the war he attended school in Washington, D. C. He was stationed on the U. S. S. Appalachian where he took part in the Atomic Bomb Test in the summer of 1946. At present he is stationed in French Morocco, Africa. CNo picturej Capt. Carroll Parker '32 A. C. was in glider training from the beginning to the end of the war. He was an instructor in many phases of glider service. Part of this time he was stationed at Bowman Field, Ky. He served in occupied countries from the Philip- pines to the Iapanese home islands. 1 9 3 3 2. Leslie Botka '33 M.M. llc, enlisted in the navy August 15, 1941, at Portland, Maine, and was discharged at Lido Beach, New York, on September 28, 1945. After doing patrol duty out of Boston for several months, he was transferred to Quonset, Rhode Island, where he spent one year and a half doing crashboat duty. From Quonset, he was sent to Miami, Florida, to ferry crashboats from Miami to New York for the British and Russian governments. In Iune, 1943, he transferred to a crashboat squadron and to a secret training base to train men for am- phibious landings. In Ianuary '44 the entire base was moved to an island, which incidently was a hiding place for the pirate, Captain Teach, better known as Blackbeard. He re- mained with the unit which was training men in radar counter measures, secret weapons, and methods of handling rockets until discharged. At present Botka is a second semester sopho- more, majoring in Mechanical Engineering at U. of M. WHS SCHI 3. P.F.C. Clair Bunten '33 was inducted April 23, 1945, took infantry training at Camp Croft, S. C., reported to Camp Meade, Md., was trans- ferred to Camp Campbell, Ky., where he was assigned to the 10th Inf. 5th Division, a combat outfit of the European Campaign. He is authorized to Wear the Expert Infantryman's Badge, received his discharge Dec. 13, 1945, at Atterberry, Ind. 4. TI4 Iames Chiaravalloti '33, enlisted in U. S. Army Nov. 3, '43, served until Ian. 30, '46. when he was honorably discharged at Ft. Dev- ens, Mass. Sgt. Chiaravalloti was in the Medi- cal Detachment 3rd Inf. Regt. stationed at Camp Butner, Durham, N. C., for Basic Train-

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16 THE BANNER ing. In March 144 he was transferred to Ft. Benning, Ga. VVhile the 3rd assisted in the Infantry School Training O. C. S. QOfficers, Candidate Schoolj, he attended Medical Ad- ministrative School, and was given further Med- ical Training at Lawson General Hospital, At- lanta, Ga., where he served as a company clerk, and in the sick and wounded administration. He went overseas Ian. '45 when the 3rd joined the 106 Infantry Division during the Bulge Battle. On VE Day he was on the Rhine fnow the French Zonef. In Iune he was moved with the 3rd Regt. to Darmstadt, to start what now is known as Camp Despair U, used for denazi- fication purposes. Sgt. Chiaravalotti is author- ized to wear F.. T. O. with two battle stars, the Bronze Star, Good Conduct and Victory Rib- bons. 5. Capt. C. Burr Dascombe ,33 enlisted in U.S.A.A.F. Oct. 3, 1942, and was called to active duty Ian. 29, 1943. He received basic training in Atlantic City, N. I., pre-flight training at Grove City College, Penn., and cadet training in the Southeastern Training Command in Ala- bama, Tennessee, and Arkansas. He received pilot's wings and commission as 2nd Lieut. at Blytheville, Ark., on Mar. 12, 1944. After transition training as first pilot in B-24 type of bomber at Smyrna, Tenn., and crew training at Tucson, Arizona, he and crew Hew a B-24 from Topeka, Kansas, to Foggia, Italy. Their assignment to the 459th Bomb' Group of the 15th Air Force was received and from there 57 Combat Missions were flown to France, Aus- tria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary, Greece and Northern Italy. Capt. Dascombe returned to the States in May '45, and is now Assistant Chief of Flight Test in the capacity of test pilot at Olmstead Field, Middletown, Penn. He wears the DFC, Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters, Presidential Unit Citation, Victory Medal, ETO Ribbon with seven battle stars and American Theater Ribbon. He expects to make the Army Air Forces his career, having received appointment in the regular Army in Iuly '46. 6. Alfred Gammon ,33 C.M. entered service Oct. 1943, with the U. S. Navy Seabees,'. He took boot training at Camp Perry, Virginia, advanced training at Camp Endicot, R. I., and Gulfport, Miss., leaving for overseas March, 1940, from Port Wueneme, Calif. His over- seas, time was spent at New Georgia and Bou- gainville in the Solomon Islands and at Samar, Philippine Islands, working on construction of airfields and harbor facilities. He wears the American Theatre Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Area Ribbon with two campaign stars. 7. Chief Radioman Harvey Gordon 133 en- listed in USNR April 18, 1934, was Executive Ofhcer, Unit Four, Section One CLiv. Falls, Mej. He was called to active duty Ianuary 2nd, 1941, as Radioman 2lc and after a short period in Boston was transferred to U. S. Naval Radio Station, Winter Harbor, Maine for duty with the Naval Communications Serv- ice. He was Rm llc in Feb. 1942, CRM faab Mar. 1944, CRM fTj Mar. 1945. While sta- tioned at Winter Harbor, Gordon was pre- sented with the Naval Reserve Medal, an award for ten years' continuous service, with good conduct, in the Naval Reserves. On the 7th of September, 1944, Gordon was separated from this station and assigned to Greenland for duty. Chief Gordon and eight other Navy men left Boston aboard a Coast Guard Super Ice-breakeru. Due to bad weather, Chief Gor- don and the others were unable to leave the ship at the designated position and so had to continue with the Coast Guard. After patrol- ling the Polar Regions Qat one time being with- in 700 miles of the North Polej, the men were put ashore in Iceland. After a few weeks' stay here, they were again bound for Greenland, arriving at their station late in November. A series of events during this journeyearned a H battle star 1' on the E. T. O. Campaign rib- bon. WVhen Germany folded up, early in '45, the work at this station was ended and Gor- don, along with the other radiomen, was trans- ferred to Port Blakely, Washington State, for' duty. After the surrender of Iapan, Gordon was sent to Boston where he received his honor- able discharge on the first of October, 1945, after serving four years nine months of active' duty. Gordon has two K' Bluenose 1' certificates, one from Navy and one from Coast Guard for having crossed the Arctic Circle. He was sta- tion photographer while in Greenland and has re-enlisted in USNR finactive dutyj. Chief Gordon wears the following ribbons: Ameri- can Defense fPre-Pearl Harborj, Naval Re-- serve Medal, Navy Good Conduct, American-