Veterans’ Day
11 – 11 – 13
Remembering those who served
CARIBOU, Maine — On Nov. 20, 1943, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines landed in the middle of Red Beach 1 on the South Pacific island of Tarawa Atoll to launch an assault on the Japanese. As the company reached the reef about 700 yards from the beach, the Japanese defenders began heavy fire with infantry weapons and artillery. The Marine unit was subjected to concentrated fire from four different directions and were cut down in large numbers.
Caribou native Alberic M. Blanchette was a member of Company K and is believed to be one of the over 1,000 Marines killed in that particular battle. He was 19 years old at the time.
Blanchette was originally listed as “Missing in Action,” but his official status was changed to “Killed in Action” in February of 1944. Blanchette’s casualty card states his body was not recovered and no burial location is listed other than a memorial gravesite located on Betio Island.
Over the years, bodies involved in the Tarawa battle have been recovered, but not identified, leaving Blanchette’s family members to wonder whatever happened to the young Marine’s remains.
Blanchette’s sister, Iris McDonald, has spent the past 70 years trying to keep his memory alive. She has relayed stories of the young man’s life, and tragic death, to her children, none of which were ever able to meet their “Uncle Brick.” In turn, they have attempted to help their mother with the ongoing battle to solve the mystery of her beloved little brother’s final resting place.
Iris’ son, Clement, contacted the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation to have an investigation done regarding the location of Blanchette’s remains. Results of the investigation, returned to the family in July of this year, were not conclusive, but were able to map out what may have happened to Blanchette and others on that awful first day of battle.
According to the report, chances are that Blanchette was one of the first casualties during the three-day fight and was probably given a hasty battlefield burial near where he fell with the intent that he would be moved to a designated cemetery when the battle was over. Clement has submitted a DNA sample to the U.S. government so that remains that continue to be found can be tested for a possible match.
Despite the fact that the family has not been able to determine what ultimately happened to Blanchette, there have been discoveries made throughout the years that offer some insight into the young serviceman’s almost two years spent with the Marines.
In 1944, Blanchette was awarded a Purple Heart, which was sent to his mother, Albertine. He also received the Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal posthumously. In more recent years, a never before seen photograph was sent to Iris showing Blanchette boarding the USS Arthur Middleton on his way to the South Pacific in 1943.
But it was the unexpected discovery of an antique silver bracelet that has had the biggest impact on Iris.
Shortly before he was reported missing in action, Blanchette contacted Iris to let her know that she could expect to receive a Christmas present from him. Blanchette informed his sister, only one year and two weeks his senior, that the present was still being made. Knowing that he was being sent into battle, Blanchette had given money to another Marine with Caribou ties to ship the present to Iris once it was complete. Shortly thereafter, Blanchette was killed in battle, and numerous Christmases came and went with no sign of the present.
Iris had been in contact with the gentleman who was supposed to be responsible for the mysterious present’s delivery; however, no mention was ever made of its existence. Assuming the present was somehow never completed, Iris let the issue drop.
It was a discovery made by Iris’ daughter, Helen, in an antique shop in Presque Isle that brought the present back to life several years later.
Helen found a sliver bracelet engraved with a palm tree next to the name “Iris.” The year 1943 and “South Pacific” were also etched into the metal. Believing it was too much of a coincidence for the piece of jewelry not to be meant for her mother, Helen purchased the bracelet and brought it to Iris.
After the bracelet was in her possession, Iris contacted the family of the man who was supposed to have sent Blanchette’s present to her all those years ago. They confirmed that when he left the area, he had sold a lot of his possessions to an antique/thrift shop in Caribou, which was now closed. The inventory from that Caribou store had been purchased by the same antique shop in Presque Isle where Helen found the bracelet. Unfortunately, the man who was supposed to deliver the present had passed away, so there was no way to verify the bracelet was intended for Iris, but her heart tells her the bracelet belongs to her.
“I just know it’s from Brick,” Iris said, tracing the silver engraving with her finger. “Iris is not that common of a name around here, and with the year and the location — I mean, what are the chances?”
Regardless of whether the bracelet is the actual present that was supposed to be delivered to Iris, members of Blanchette’s family consider its discovery a call to them from beyond.
Like the Purple Heart that was eventually given to Iris’ son, Francis Alberic, named after the uncle he never had the pleasure to meet, the bracelet and its story will also be passed down through the generations to keep alive the memory of a valiant young man who lost his life in defense of this country so many years ago.
