23 hours ago • ALEXANDER DEEDY Independent Record
After more than 70 years, the
remains of a World War II prisoner of war will be returned to his home in
Augusta next week. Read more
A block off Augusta’s main street,
right by the pool, stands a white building the Augusta Area Historical
Society has dedicated as a museum to the history
of the town.
Inside, on the wall to the right,
hang two carvings: one of a waving American flag, one of the state of Montana
with a gold star on Augusta. Beneath, hang nearly 130 portraits -- one for each
person in the Augusta area that served during World War II.
“My aunt claims, she said, ‘Augusta
sent more young men percent-wise than any community in America,’” Dave Manix
said.
Portraits of Manix’s father and
uncle hang on that wall. After walking out of church one Sunday in December
1941, they were told to turn on their car radio. For hours they sat and
listened to reports of an attack on Pearl Harbor. Then they went to war.
So did many of their friends and
cousins, whose portraits Manix pointed out on the wall. Many returned after the
war, and Manix, who grew up in Augusta, knew a few of them.
“We’re lucky these guys all came
home,” he said.
But not everyone on the wall was so
lucky.
Robert “Bob” Bohler, a submariner,
was lost at sea and is still missing.
William “Laddie” Bernier, a
bombardier, died when his B-24D Liberator was shot down over the Madang
Province, New Guinea. Bernier’s remains were lost until 2001, when a U.S. team
recovered them. Recently, Bernier’s remains were identified by the Joint
Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command in Honolulu, Hawaii.
On Friday, after more than 70 years,
Bernier returned home.
•••
Bernier’s grandfather, Oliver Louis
Bernier, was hired to drive an oxen train west in the 1860s, according to “In
the Shadow of the Rockies: A history of the Augusta area.” He landed in
Virginia City in 1865, then followed the gold to Helena. Oliver married,
entered the cattle business, prospered, then moved north onto 2,000 acres not
far from Augusta.
He had a son, Walter E. Bernier, who
inherited his dad’s place. Walter had a son with his wife, Louise, and named
him Fred. A year and a half later, William Dan Bernier was born. The story goes
that Fred couldn’t pronounce William Dan, so he simply called his
little brother “Laddie.”
Both boys graduated from Augusta
High School.
Then Laddie Bernier attended college in Bozeman for a few years.
Sandi Jones, Bernier’s neice, never
met her uncle. But from what she heard, he probably enjoyed college.
“He was tall and good lookin’, and
he liked the girls,” Jones said.
Jones said her uncle enlisted in the
military on Dec. 10, 1941, three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He
enlisted in Seattle. Jones doesn’t know how Bernier got there, but she assumed
he packed a bag and hopped on a train.
“He must have felt serious about
it,” Jones said her grandfather used to say about Bernier’s enlistment.
According to Jones, Bernier was
between six feet and six feet-two inches in height. He wanted to be a pilot,
but he was too tall. Instead Bernier was charged with sitting in the nose of
the B-24, below the pilot, sighting where to drop the bombs.
“His aircraft was shot down on April
10, 1944, near Hansa Bay, Papua New Guinea. Bernier was initially reporting
missing, but was later presumed killed in the crash. At the end of the war his
remains were determined unrecoverable and he was reported killed in action to
his family,” a media release from the Montana Guard said.
Bernier’s mom, Louise, never
believed that he was really dead. Jones said she wouldn’t talk about it, except
to occasionally say he would come home. That one day, he would return.
This July, Jones received a call
from military officials to notify her that her uncle’s remains had been
identified.
She decided to have them buried
in Augusta.
•••
Army Lt. Timothy Smith is stationed
in Honolulu, near the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command. For soldiers there,
it’s part of their duty to occasionally accompany identified remains home. When
a release went out that Bernier’s remains were identified, Smith volunteered to
fly with them. For the first time, he was chosen.
“It was an opportunity to give back
to a soldier who gave his life to this country,” Smith said.
Smith flew with Bernier to Billings.
From there, he drove with Bernier to Augusta.
Smith was with Bernier when they
drove into Augusta toward the cemetery and past Dru Genger, a high school
senior who was waving American flags with more than 50 other students from
Augusta Public Schools.
“It’s a big deal,” Genger said about
Bernier’s return. “This guy risked his life for us, for future generations, for
freedom. I feel like this is a little thing I can do to show my gratitude.”
The procession escorting Bernier
pulled into Augusta Cemetery, where dozens of people waited to pay their
respects.
Pallbearers carried Bernier from the
hearse, his coffin draped with the American flag.
After setting Bernier down, the
pallbearers lifted the flag and held it taut over Bernier’s coffin.
There they held it as National Guard
Chaplain Kenneth DuVall read from Psalm 118 and John 14, the latter of which
speaks of the place waiting in heaven.
“I think that’s comforting for us to
know there’s a place for everyone in heaven,” DuVall said.
The pallbearers held the flag taut
as masons read respects to their fellow mason, as an honor guard fired a 21-gun
salute and as trumpets played taps.
Then they folded the flag, which was
passed to Maj. Gen. Matthew Quinn, Adjutant General for Montana. Quinn
presented the flag to Jones.
For Bernier’s family, Quinn said the
day was about him finally coming home. For him, from the soldier’s perspective,
the day was about the commitment the military makes to never leave a man
behind. He said that more than 50 Montanans are still unaccounted for after
they went missing in action.
After the service, Chaplain DuV
all
told Jones, “It’s a simple service, and I hope it brought you comfort.”
“You don’t know how much comfort
this brought me,” she replied.
Jones met family members at the
funeral whom she’s never seen before -- including Bernier’s namesake, a great
nephew named William Laddie Bernier.
When she looks back on the ceremony,
Bernier said, she’ll remember all the people who came to show their respects.
“It really does show that some
people remember and appreciate,” she said.
She was blown away by the support.
All of it was for her uncle, for “Laddie.” And she hopes he’s happy with it
all, smiling down from above.
Jones is happy. Happy that the uncle
she never knew is finally home.
“I can say, ‘Yep Grandma, I did
bring him home,” Jones said.
“He’s no longer lost. He’s found,
and he’s safe.”
Alexander Deedy can be reached at
447-4081 or alexander.deedy@helenair.com
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