Seven Deschenes Brothers - Veterans

Seven Deschenes brothers honored at Old Glory Tower

NEW BEDFORD — During the month of November, the 446th flag to wave atop Old Glory Tower honors the memory of seven Deschenes brothers: Master Sgt. Arthur Deschenes (Army) who died Dec. 22, 1986; Pfc. William Deschenes (Army), died June 26, 1980; Staff Sgt. Leo Deschenes (Army), died Dec. 30, 1997; Pfc. Norman Deschenes (Army); died Aug. 3, 1994; Sgt. Eugene Deschenes (Army), died May 29, 1996; Sgt. Roland Deschenes (Army), died Dec. 2, 1986; and Fireman 1st Class Henry Deschenes (Navy), died February 2, 1956.

Known as the "The Fighting French", the Deschenes, who lived on Ashley Boulevard in New Bedford, were a miniature army who battled the enemy on many fronts from Okinawa to Germany.

The owners and operators of Deschenes Auto Body in Fall River, they posted a sign on the business, "Closed for the Duration" when they all packed up and left for war.

Five of the Deschenes brothers recalled their wartime experiences in a Standard-Times interview in 1964.

Leo was the first in the service. He was listening to the radio on a Sunday morning in 1941 when the Pearl Harbor attack bulletin flashed. He headed for the Army Recruiting Station and was on his way to the South Pacific a month later. Norman enlisted in March 1942, Eugene the following August, Roland and William in October, Arthur in November and Henry, the only Navy man among the siblings, in 1943.

Arthur recalled his journey to the European Theater.

"Took us five days on the Queen Mary to cross the Atlantic," he said, "and then it took 20 days to cross the English Channel." He would take part in the D-Day invasion.

Norman remembered the fanaticism of the Japanese in the Pacific.

"You'd see them attack a tank with a sharpened bamboo pole," he said, shaking his head. "And you never knew where they were. We went to sleep one night on a hillside and discovered in the morning we'd been sleeping on top of a cave filled with them. They may have been scared to come out. We certainly weren't going down after them."

Roland said that the most enjoyable thing about an air raid was answering roll-call after everything was over.

"We'd bellow, 'Here,' and take two steps forward just to prove to ourselves we were."

William was the Deschenes first casualty.

"I went to a carnival in England and fell over a swing and ended up spending 2½ months in the hospital," he said.

He was luckier during a buzz bomb raid on Liverpool. He got out of Liverpool Station five minutes before it was blasted.

Leo, who went through the Philippines and Netherlands East Indies before reaching Japan, said the best thing about those days was mail call.

All of the brothers, wherever they were, said that one of the saddest things they saw were starving civilians who gathered around garbage pails to collect what the GIs threw away.

"And the most wonderful thing that happened to any of us," said Norman, speaking for the rest, "was getting out of service and getting home."

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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