Joseph Y. Cormier - Veteran

Flag flies in memory of Bronze Star recipient

NEW BEDFORD — During January, the 448th flag to wave atop Old Glory Tower honors the memory of U.S. Army Technician 5th Grade Joseph Y. Cormier, formerly of New Bedford, who died Jan. 19, 1945, at age 29.

The son of Vital H. Cormier, he had two brothers, Henry and Raymond, and four sisters, Marie, Marguerite, Anna and Cecile.Cormier was inducted into the Army on March 1, 1941 and sent overseas in July 1944.

On the evening of Dec. 24, 1944, the 2nd Battalion Infantry Regiment established positions on high ground near Luxembourg during what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge. At this point enemy tank fire concentrated on a road which led into the battalion area from the rear.

When the mortar sections of the company ran out of ammunition, Cormier loaded a quarter-ton vehicle with mortar shells at an ammunition dump and drove his vehicle through enemy fire to deliver the shells successfully.

On the trip back, again under fire, he evacuated two wounded men. The mortars resumed and drove off the enemy tanks which had threatened the rear communication lines.

Cormier was awarded the Bronze Star for "courage under fire, initiative and unusual devotion to duty."

He died of wounds received in action at Luxembourg. and was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously.

In September 1998, his niece Patricia Carvelli and her husband, Robert, visited Cormier's grave at the American Cemetery in Luxembourg. The simple white cross at Plot E, Row 10, Grave 64, reads: JOSEPH Y. CORMIER, TEC 5, 328 INF, 26 DIV, MASSACHUSETTS, JAN 19, 1945.

The late Joseph Theodore, a World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient, began the practice of flying veterans' flags above Old Glory Tower 36 years ago.

Linda Ferreira, a marketing representative at Ashley Ford in New Bedford, researches the life histories of area veterans, and Paul Neary, general manager of the dealership, raises the memorial flags on the veterans' behalf.

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