Alberic Maurice Blanchette

Alberic Blanchette was born in Aroostock County, Maine, on 31 May 1924. He was the second of five children born to Benjamin and Albertine Marie (Sirois) Blanchette, and grew up in Caribou – “the most northeastern city in the United States.” The Blanchettes had French Canadian roots, and like many children in Caribou, Alberic grew up speaking French at home.

Young Alberic developed a love of singing, Scouting, and sports. He was a popular figure at Caribou High School, playing varsity baseball and basketball and presiding over the student Athletic Association. “Brick” Blanchette also appeared in school plays and choir concerts, and could likely turn out a good rendition of his favorite tune: “I Can’t Remember To Forget.” He graduated with the class of 1941.

“Brick” traveled to Augusta to enlist in the Marine Corps on 7 January 1942 – exactly one month after Pearl Harbor. He completed boot camp at Parris Island and was soon on his way to the Pacific as a member of Company B, First Raider Battalion.

At the Raider camp at Tutuila, Private Blanchette learned to fight commando style. He earned a promotion to private first class, and was likely anticipating putting his skills to the test against the Japanese. However, he would have to wait. In early July, Blanchette was assigned to duty with the Raider rear echelon. He boarded a transport and sailed from Samoa – but instead of heading to combat in the Solomon Islands, he traveled to Noumea to help establish the Raider’s rest camp.

According to Raider muster rolls, Blanchette never set foot on Guadalcanal. He spent the duration of the campaign serving at Noumea, both with Raider Headquarters and the First Base Depot. The depot assignment started out as temporary but became permanent towards the end of 1942. Discipline was strict, too. In March of 1943, “Brick” was apprehended by military police and charged with being absent without leave. He was busted down to private and given three months of extra duty – all for an infraction that lasted less than ninety minutes.

Blanchette was sent to a replacement draft in the summer of 1943; on 10 July he joined Company K, Third Battalion, 2nd Marines. He spent the next three months training with “King Company” in New Zealand, then boarded the transport USS Arthur Middleton bound for the Gilbert Islands – his first taste of combat.

On 20 November 1943, the Third Battalion 2nd Marines was assigned the task of spearheading the assault on Betio’s Red Beach One. They were subjected to devastating fire from the moment they crossed the island’s coral reef, and suffered heavy casualties while coming ashore and on the beach itself.

“On approaching the beach, the first two waves of LVTs were hit by machine gun and anti-boat gun fire from beaches Red 1 and 2 and Beach Green firing over the point,” reads an official report. “This fire damaged several  LVTs and caused severe casualties. The assault waves landed generally at about 0910. The left half of Company K was partially stopped about 150 yards from the beach by anti-boat fire and suffered very heavy casualties. The remainder of Company K and Company I were also heavily hit by machine guns both in LVTs and while disembarking. The log barricade in front of Company I offered some cover and an opportunity to organize, but Company K had no cover and many of those who made the beach were hit on the flat terrain.”

Exactly what happened to Private Blanchette will never be known. He was last seen alive on the approach to Beach Red One; after the battle, he was reported as missing in action. By January 1944, it was clear that he had died in action, and “Brick” was declared dead as of 20 November 1943.

Because none of the remains buried on Betio after the battle could be identified as Private Blanchette, a memorial marker was placed in Cemetery 33, Grave 8, Row 1, Plot 11.

The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company exhumed the Betio cemeteries in 1946. They were perplexed and dismayed to find that “Cemetery 33” was a memorial, and after much digging in the vicinity managed to find the original burial trenches. However, the remains they found bore no correlation to the markers, and very few had any sort of identification.

One set of remains, designated “Betio X-153,” was exhumed from Cemetery 33 in March 1946. Technicians from the 604th could not identify the body, so it was reburied in Lone Palm Cemetery to await transport back to Hawaii. In January 1948, “X-153” was laid out on a laboratory table in Honolulu and examined by trained anthropologists. Although they were able to complete a detailed dental chart, estimate vital statistics, and even describe physical appearance, the identity of X-153 eluded them. He was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Plot E Grave 136.

In October 2016, a DPAA directive led to the exhumation of unidentified remains in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Using modern identification methods – including a reexamination of dental charts and chest radiographs – the remains of X-153 were positively associated with Alberic Blanchette.

“Brick” was officially accounted for on 17 July 2017.

CENOTAPHS
Honolulu Memorial, Tablets of the Missing

FINAL BURIAL
Holy Rosary Cemetery, Caribou, Maine