The Fallen Veterans Project will honor the memory of Capt. Daniel Tranchemontagne, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 11 others Tuesday during ceremonies at the Sanford Performing Arts Center. COURTESY PHOTO
SANFORD — Capt. Daniel Tranchemontagne was a math teacher, a wrestling coach and a soldier who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He earned a bronze star for his work, serving as a staff officer with the 368th Engineer Combat Battalion in Kuwait.
Tranchemontagne, 32, died of cancer on May 30, 2004, at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
In ceremonies Tuesday at the Sanford Performing Arts Center, the Fallen Veterans Project will honor the memory of 11 veterans listed as missing in action from the Korean War and World War II, along with Capt. Daniel Tranchemontagne, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Tranchemontagne was serving when diagnosed with cancer. He died in 2004. COURTESY PHOTO/Mariette Waterhouse
He and 11 other veterans — those listed as missing in action from World War II and Korea — will be remembered on Tuesday in ceremonies by the Fallen Veterans Project at Sanford Performing Arts Center.
The Fallen Veterans Project, is a research program involving students in the Sanford Junior High School band program and from various departments at Sanford Regional Technical Center. It is the fifth year for the Fallen Veterans Project, designed to remember and honor those who have died in service to their country and to instill in young people the importance of doing so.
The ceremonies, at 9:15 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday, will mark the service of Tranchemontagne and the others: Gilbert Doiron, Charles Authier, Delbert Greene, Irenee Plante, Wesley Milligan, Donald Baker, Paul Lesperance, Donald Ritchie and Robert Watson, all who served in World War II, and Richard Wormwood and Robert Millington, who served in the Korean War.
There will be musical selections by the SJHS band, including compositions written by students honoring fallen veterans, readings, participation by ROTC members, a tribute to Tranchemontagne, and more.
Adam Cote, a bronze star recipient now retired from the Maine Army National Guard will be the guest speaker.
Earlier this week, SJHS band students cleaned the graves of fallen veterans in advance of Memorial Day.
Tranchemontange was a graduate of Sanford High School, and Norwich University, from where he graduated in 1993 with a degree in math and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with the U.S. Army Reserve. He later earned a master’s degree in education at the University of Southern Maine, and taught math at Scarborough High School.
He was a beloved son, brother and fiance.
The others being honored, and listed as missing from the Korean War and World War II include:
• U.S. Army Cpl. Richard C. Wormwood, 21, was reported missing in action on May 18, 1951, one of 22 men from his unit who was captured and marched about 70 miles to North Korea with other prisoners of war. Wormwood was weak and ill with dysentery, so his fellow prisoners helped him keep up until he could go no further. He was escorted from the column and not seen again. The Fallen Veterans Project helped secure a memorial plaque that was placed in the family plot at Oakdale Cemetery in a 2016 ceremony.
• Robert Millington served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Hobson for four years. The destroyer was struck by an aircraft carrier 600 miles west of the Azores and sunk with 176 aboard. He was 20 years old.
• Gilbert Doiron, Sanford’s first World War II casualty, was aboard the USS Reuben James when she was torpedoed off Iceland by a German submarine on October 31, 1941. In all, 114 were lost that day. He had served 13 years in the U.S. Navy.
• Charles Authier, 18, served in the U.S. Navy and was aboard the destroyer USS Dehaven. He was killed at Iron Bottom Bay, Guadalcanal, on Feb. 1, 1943.
• Delbert Greene, 27, joined the U.S. Merchant Marine when he was 14. Around 1935, he joined the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the submarine service. He was the chief radioman on the submarine USS Corvina. Historical accounts indicate the submarine was torpedoed in the South Pacific on Nov, 16, 1943.
• Irenee Plante, 25, who served in the U.S. Air Force, was killed while on a bombing mission to Bremen, Germany on Nov. 26, 1943. The staff sergeant’s B17 was last seen over the North Sea, near Margralen, Holland, pursued by German fighter aircraft.
• Wesley Milligan, 24, was a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force. A turret gunner, he was on a mission near Munich, Germany on Feb. 2, 1944 and being chased by German fighter planes when his aircraft crashed.
• 2nd Lt. Donald Baker, 30, and Sgt. Paul E. Lesperance, 36, both in the U.S. Army, were aboard and aboard the USS Leopoldville, headed for the Battle of the Bulge when it was hit by a submarine off the coast of France on Christmas Day, 1944.
• Donald E. Ritchie, 21, a member of the U.S. Navy, was aboard the USS Chandleur on Feb. 19, 1945, and is listed as lost at sea off the Caroline Islands.
• Robert Watson, 17, a member of the U.S. Navy, was aboard a B24, and lost off Okinawa on July 7, 1945. He was the last Sanford resident to fall before the Japanese surrender on Sept. 2, 1945.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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