KENNEBUNK — Eugene A. Breton came home at the end of World War II after fighting in many campaigns and gave his medals to his mother for safekeeping.
He’d earned quite a few: the Good Conduct Medal; the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze service stars representing three campaigns in Italy; the World War II Victory Medal and an Honorable Service lapel button.
But the years rolled by and somehow, the medals were lost.
On Thursday, surrounded by children, grandchildren and well-wishers at Kindred Healthcare Facility where he and his wife of 66 years, Aline, now live, he was presented a new set of medals.
Elderly now, at 89, and not as well as he used to be, Breton was unable to say much ”“ but he didn’t have to. As Maine Bureau of Veterans Services Director Peter Ogden presented the medals, Breton hung on every word, smiling for the most part, but there were a few solemn expressions, too.
As Ogden wound down his presentation, Breton looked up and said just two words, but with a wealth of feeling.
“Thank you,” he said with a broad, sweet smile.
Longtime Saco residents, Eugene and Aline Breton raised eight children. Their home, said their youngest son, Richard, was always the gathering place.
“There was always someone in the kitchen drinking coffee,” he recalled. And on Friday nights, the house would fill with family and friends, music ”“ his Dad played violin and guitar ”“ and laughter.
Their father didn’t talk about the war very much at all, said daughter Pat Conley. Suggestions that he might enjoy movies like “Saving Private Ryan,” and the like were rebuffed.
“He didn’t want to think about it,” said his wife, Aline.
But he did think about it, silently, and had medical problems for much of his life, his children said. Following the war, he worked at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, but stress, which resulted in severe stomach issues and multiple surgeries, intervened and he was unable to return.
Like most young men in those days, Breton had enlisted to do his bit in World War II, and took the train to Fort Devens for training. He was part of the U.S. Army’s 351st Infantry Regiment of the 88th division.
A black and white photograph of him sitting on some steps in an Italian town ”“ whether Rome or elsewhere is unknown ”“ shows a young Breton with that same broad smile.
He met the love of his life after the war. Aline Roy had hailed from Lac Megantic, Quebec, and like many, had come to the area to work in the mills.
“She saw my Dad and she had a crush on him,” Conley said, and speculated with her friends on whether he might be French, because she didn’t speak much English. He was buddies with two other young men, and they used to flirt with the pretty young woman from Quebec. Finally, said Conley, Breton told Aline she’d have to pick one of them to date. She chose him and the couple married in 1947.
The medal presentation came as a surprise. Shortly after 10 a.m., the couple was wheeled from their room at the healthcare facility to a meeting room. Among the relatives, friends and staff attending were five of their six living children: sons Reny and Richard Breton and daughters Sue Doughty, Simone Drouin and Pat Conley. Son Eugene Breton Jr., of Bangor, was unable to attend.
“I know he will remember today,” said Richard of his father.
Ogden spoke of Breton’s war: He’d fought in three Italian campaigns – Arno, the North Apennines and in the liberation of Rome – and of the sheer number of Mainers who served their country in World War II: 112,000. Of those, 2,551 died in service to their country.
Breton’s medals were secured through Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s office. Aide Skeek Frazee, who contacted the National Personnel Records Center, said some of his war records, like those of others, were lost in a fire therein 1973, but the family had Breton’s discharge papers, which listed the medals he had been awarded.
As well as the medals, Breton, and a new friend he made at the healthcare center that day, fellow World war II veteran Roy Norton of Alfred, were presented Maine’s commemorative World War II coin. Norton too, is a man of a few words, but as the coins were presented, the two old soldiers clasped hands.
Granddaughter Tina Quattrucci said she hadn’t realized her grandfather hadn’t had his medals all along.
“This is wonderful, she said of the gathering.
“He’s a good man,” said his wife Aline, as she gazed at her husband of so many years.
And what did he think of the morning’s events?
Eugene Breton smiled again.
“Very, very good,” he said.
— 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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