Dollard Albert Lesage Machinist Mate 3rd Class USNR 302th Naval Construction Battalion

Dollard was born on 6 Jun 1925 in Winooski, VT, the son and 4th child of Arthur Joseph Lesage and Anna Marie Brunelle. In the 1940 census we find that the parents had 12 children and were living at 15 West Spring St Winooski. His father was a weaver at the Woolen Mill in Winooski, VT. Dollard was the 4th child and was 14 years old.

On 7 Jun 1943 Dollard’s draft card had him at age 18, weight 137, height was 5ft 7 and he had blue eyes and brown hair. His father was still employed at the American Woolen Co. Dollard enlisted in the US Navy on 10 Dec 1943 and his service number was Navy 8251047.

Burlington Free Press 27 Sep 1943: We see Dollard’s name in a list of 23 boys who were accepted for service at Rutland, VT on the 23rd of September. Burlington Free Press 21 Dec 1943: He was one of many servicemen of the Burlington area who sent thanks for the Christmas packages.

Burlington Free Press 4 Sep 1944: Dollard Lesage dies in action in the Pacific. Dollard served as a Machinist's Mate Third Class, Naval Construction Battalion Number 302, U.S. Navy during World War II.

Burlington Free Press 15 Apr 1948: Dollard Lesage’s body will arrive on Friday.

Burlington Free Press 19 Apr 1948: Funeral and obituary for Dollard Lesage, Winooski War Hero.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121539724 Dollard, son of Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Lesage.

HEADSTONE for St Francis Xavier cem Machinist Mate 3rd Class USNR died 26 Jul 1944

The Asan Bay Overlook Memorial Wall in GUAM contains the names of 1,880 U.S. servicemen who died in the 1941 defense of Guam against the attacking Japanese armed forces and those who died retaking the island from Japan in 1944 along with the names of the 1,170 people of Guam who died and 14,721 who suffered atrocities of war from 1941-1944.

Guerrero Dollard A. Lesage Guerrero means Warrior Why does it only prefix Dollard’s name?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=KaCOoVrNexs Watch a video at the monument

The 302nd Naval Construction Battalion was formed at Pearl Harbor on Aug. 26, 1944 through the merger of CBDs 1035, 1038, 1039, 1043 and 1054. CBD 1054 left Pearl on July 17, 1944 for the Russell islands and engaged in forward area operations as a detachment of the 302nd Battalion. From Sept. 15 to Nov. 12, detachments operated pontoons for the invasion of Peleliu. From Sept. 17 to Oct. 6, units operated pontoons for the invasion of Angaur and later that year other detachments moved in the pontoons on the beachheads of Leyte and Luzon. Dollard died on 26 Jul 1944.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see 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 smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.