Posted by Normand Cote on April 8, 2012 at 11:21am
This is where Lt. Rosaire Bilodeau is interred, in the family mausoleum. His father, after the war, in 1949, was able to have his son's remains sent to St. Peter's Cemetery in Lewiston, ME. 2nd Lt. Rosaire B. Bilodeau, my second cousin, was the co-pilot of the B17 "Texas Longhorn" He took part in the Schweinfurt raid on Oct 14, 1943 "Bloody Thursday". His plane came back with over 100 holes in the wings and fuselage. And only 15 minutes of fuel to make it back to his base in England. On his final mission, their primary target was Kiel, Germany and the secondary one was Hamburg, Germany. They were shot down over Hamburg on Dec 13, 1943, but not before 7 of the crew members bailed out over Hamburg and were captured by the Germans. They spent 18 months in the Infamous Stalag 17 in Austria. Pilot Lt. George C. Parker, Co-Pilot Lt. Rosaire B. Bilodeau and Lt. Graham H. Ladd, Bombardier, did not bail out, and went down with the plane.
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