SCARBOROUGH — Memorial Day comes Monday, and with it, ceremonies to honor those who have died in military service to their country.
Among those who will be thinking about war and those lost in battles ”“ in this case 65 to 70 years ago ”“ is Albert Bertrand, a Sanford man who fought in the Pacific theater of operations in World War II.
These days a resident of the Maine Veteran’s Home in Scarborough, Bertrand, a Marine, will mark his 96th birthday July 1.
His memories of serving are intertwined with one of his lifelong passions: Performing acrobatic feats and testing his physical abilities as a contortionist. He spoke about both in an interview Thursday.
Bertrand joined up withthe Marines two months after the attack by Japan on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. Like most everyone, he felt compelled to do his bit.
“We’ve got to go out and do something about it,” he recalled saying at the time, and so he donned the uniform of the U.S. Marines.
He fought in numerous battles ”“ among them Saipan and Tinian in the Mariana Islands, and Kwajalien in the Marshall Islands. And he was part of a group of Marines who entertained the troops, he said, in areas considered too dangerous for the USO.
After the battles in Saipan and Tinian, Bertrand said his captain wanted to put a troupe together. One fellow Marine, who’d been an emcee in a Chicago club, volunteered to organize it. There were a host of performers ”“ among them an impressionist, a roller skater, and of course Bertrand, the contortionist.
The 38-man troupe put on performances for more than 100,000 men, said Bertrand ”“ in some of the more dangerous locales around ”“ flown to their destination in Curtis C46 Commandos.
“You were at risk,” he said.
There was a lot of risk ”“ it was, after all, a world war.
Bertrand was near an ammunition dump one day when it was blown up. He was lucky, he said. The explosion sent him into the air and “fouled up” his eardrums, but he was otherwise unharmed.
His interest in physical fitness, acrobatics and cortortionism came early on, after catching an acrobatic show when the circus came to town when he was a boy.
“They caught me trying to sneak in” to see the performance, he said. A resourceful youngster, he snuck in another way.
He became known as “Tarzan” for his acrobatic abilities, nicknamed after the Olympic champion Johnny Weismuller, who later went on to play Tarzan in the movies. Bertrand was the first “Mr. Maine” in 1941, and was middle weight lifting champion of the state the same year, according to his daughter, Sherry Waterhouse.
Born July 1, 1917 in St. Andre, Quebec, Canada, Bertrand and his family emigrated to Sanford when he was 8 years old. In a biographic piece about her father, Waterhouse said he attended school through eighth grade, and then, not unlike other young people of the day, went to work in the mills to help support the family. “Tarz” worked in a number of area manufacturing facilities, retiring from Wasco when he was 72 years old.
On Thursday, he spoke about some of his physical feats, like diving off a 9-foot board and doing three somersaults into the water.
“I had to turn two fast, tucked up, and then stretched out to get the triple,” he said.
In one performance, Bertrand recalled lifting his buddy, who weighted 125 pounds, above his head with one hand while doing a straddle split.
“I’d stay awake at night trying to figure out what to do (that) no one else could,” he said.
To stay in shape, he’d spend 90 minutes at the Sanford YMCA, working out six days a week, in addition to a 10-mile bike ride and 35 minutes of yoga each day, a routine his daughter said he continued into his 80s.
He performed his last hand-stand when he was 80 years old.
On Thursday, he was wearing a cap embossed with the words “4th Marine Division.”
He said his performances with the troupe all those years ago gave him self-confidence and helped him get through the war.
“I lost a lot of buddies,” he said.
Waterhouse said it was customary for her parents to make monthly donations to the Disabled Veterans of America, and when Desert Storm began, her father wrote letters of encouragement to young Marines serving overseas. He is a member of the AMVETS and VFW and is a member of the Marine Corps League.
“Once a Marine, always a Marine?” Bertrand was asked at the interview.
“You’re right,” he said with a sweet smile.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, Ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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