PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Through their shared love of local history, the student history clubs at Presque Isle Middle School and the University of Maine at Presque Isle are uncovering crucial information to teach the community about the city’s past as a major Air Force base during and after World War II.
Bill Guerrette, PIMS social studies teacher and history club advisor, began the research project with his eighth-grade students two years ago as a story map that traced the history of the former Presque Isle Air Force Base and airport from the 1930s to the present. Each new class of eighth graders has continued the project, which led to Guerrette starting a history club for students who were especially interested in Presque Isle history.
Today Guerrette has six eighth graders — Wilson Saucier, Sidney Smith, Torrie Casey, Rebecca Lafland, Eli Barnes and Breena Morneau — in the middle school history club. During the 2017-2018 school year, UMPI Professor of History Kim Sebold made Guerrette aware of UMPI students who were starting a history club on campus and the two instructors discussed ways that their clubs could collaborate.
Both clubs have since met four times during the past school year. Throughout the first three meetings, they discussed where they wanted the project to go and began searching online databases of 1940s articles from The Star-Herald and Bangor Daily News at Presque Isle’s city library. Several students now have interest in interviewing community members who were once part of the Air Force base to give their research fresh, first-person accounts of that era.
“One neat article we found was from a 1943 edition of The Star-Herald that talked about a beacon that was placed on top of the Perry Theater on Main Street, which used to sit where Bemis and Rossignol is now. The beacon was a site marker for Air Force members flying into Presque Isle from Europe,” Guerrette said.
On Wednesday, March 21, the PIMS history club met with three students from UMPI’s History Club — Evan Zarkadas, Adam Weyeneth and Alex DesRuisseaux — at the Presque Isle Air Museum, located inside the Presque Isle Regional Airport. The students wanted to see the museum’s historic photographs and model airplanes and read the narratives that already exist about the Air Force base to enhance their research. The visit marked the fourth time that the clubs have met thus far.
PIMS student Saucier spoke enthusiastically about the historic archives and facts that the history clubs have uncovered. Currently the group is focusing on information on the Air Force base from the 1930s through the end of World War II.
“We found out that the Air Force base used to give Presque Isle a lot more business and then after Loring (Air Force Base) came to Limestone, the population got even bigger,” Saucier, 14, said. “It’s hard going through 70 years of records, but it’s been fun.”
Morneau noted that the project has given her a greater appreciation for the value of local history.
“We want to interview different people who were involved in the base because everyone’s history is important,” Morneau, 13, said. “It’s been fun doing research and finding out what Presque Isle was like during war time.”
Zarkadas, UMPI history club president, stated that the clubs’ collaboration allows UMPI history and education majors to gain experience with younger students while taking part in an academic project that will benefit the entire Presque Isle community.
“It’s heartwarming to see young students wanting to get involved with and preserve their heritage,” Zarkadas said. “They’re so passionate and motivated and they realize that even in a town like Presque Isle there are many significant historical connections.”
In the coming years, Guerrette will continue the Air Force base research project with the next group of eighth graders in the history club and hopes to eventually complete a multimedia presentation, with historic photos, video, text and GIS maps of the area, for students to present to community members.
He also would like to further collaborate with UMPI’s history club and perhaps even involve former middle school students who still have interest in contributing to the project.
“The students bring energy and enthusiasm to the project and we always talk in class about how history is our story,” Guerrette said. “Unfortunately those stories are getting lost and so the fact that they want to do something to preserve the stories is pretty special.”
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- Presque Isle Middle School students Breena Morneau (left) and Torrie Casey gaze at historic photographs that depict the former Presque Isle Air Force Base inside the Presque Isle Air Museum. They are two of six PIMS history club students who have moved forward a research project dedicated to studying the history of the Air Force base and its contributions to Aroostook County during and after World War II. (Melissa Lizotte)
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- Presque Isle Middle School students Eli Barnes and Breena Morneau look at World War II-era photographs of the former Presque Isle Air Force Base during their March 21 visit to the Presque Isle Air Museum with students from UMPI’s history club. Both clubs are researching information on the Air Force base’s history during and after World War II. (Melissa Lizotte)
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- UMPI history club students Alex DesRuisseaux (left) and Adam Weyeneth take a tour of the Presque Isle Air Museum on Wednesday, March 21. The students are collaborating with the Presque Isle Middle School’s history club on a project that details the history of the former Presque Isle Air Force Base. (Melissa Lizotte)
