Sergeant Lucien J Bourgoin, born 10 Jan 1922, was the son of Albert and Marie Anna (Cartier) Bourgoin of Lawrence, Essex County, Massachusetts. Lawrence is 26 miles due north of Boston. His parents were French Canadian. Lucien was the fifth child and the first born in the US.

In the 1930 census 8-year-old Lucien is living with his parents and siblings Rosario 14, Adreinne 13, Lucienne 12, Emilienne 10, Rolande 5, Lionelle 4, Alfred 3 and Theresa 1, at 455 Haverhill Street in Lawrence. His father is a millwright in a woolen mill. A millwright is a carpenter who works with steel.

In the 1940 census 18-year-old Lucien is living with his parents and siblings Rosario 24, Emilienne 20, Roland 15, Lionel 14, Alfred 13, Theresa 11, Raymond 9, and albert 6. Lucien is the “kettle man” in the dye house of the woolen mill.

Lucien enlisted 10 Aug 1942 in Boston. He’d had a grammar school education and was single without dependents. His civil occupation was listed under manufacture of textiles. Because he would have been fluent in French, he was ultimately assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor to the CIA).

The NARA WWII casualty listings by state and county for Massachusetts show Bourgoin, Lucien J, Sgt from Essex County as killed in action 9 Aug 1944.The French version of events has the date one week earlier on 2 Aug. Lucien was assigned to OSS Jedburgh Team “Ian”. A model team consisted of one French, one British, and one American serviceman. Every team had at least one officer and a radioman, but team sizes varied from two to four men. Lucien was the radio operator on team Ian.

During the night June 20 to June 21, the Jedburgh team IAN, nr 52270, made a blind landing at Léché, near Lussac-les-Chateaux, after an unsuccessful attempt the day before. Lieutenant Maingard (nicknamed Samuel) from La Ville-es-Offrans, welcomed the team and drove Major (US) John Gildee , Captain (FR) Alexandre Desfarges (Yves Delorme) and the Sergeant (Canadian)) Lucien Bourgoin (Meo) to the Command Post. The team’s mission was to contact with the Resistance organization in Vienne, Deux-Sevres and Charente Departments, to conduct sabotage operations on the railroad network between Bordeaux and Paris and Bordeaux and Saumur. The team conducted a two-week training for the FFI (French Forces of the Interior).

On August 2, 1944, Team IAN decided to leave Cherves-Chatelars for Charroux to prepare an equipment dropping. On the way, they were warned by two FFI motorcyclists that a retreating German column was in the area. As it arrived in Pleuville, it was heavily fired at by German troops deployed in the village. The motorcyclists, despite being wounded, succeeded to escape. As the driver of the team’s car was severely wounded the car was stuck in the middle of the road. The rest of the team tried to escape through the woods nearby. Bourgoin was then killed when running across the road.

Sgt. Lucien Bourgoin was buried in Pleuville on August 3, 1944. His burial was officially registered on the administrative roll that day by the Mayor of Pleuville.His name is also engraved on the French Memorial Monument in Pleuville.

Source: American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) contributor Brian Kueker

This story became part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.