MADAWASKA, Maine — The caretaker of a memorial in France that commemorates a fallen U.S. soldier and Madawaska native who died there in World War II traveled to the St. John Valley this week to visit the soldier’s grave.
Frederic Gaignard, along with his wife, Veronique Rioux, and daughters Alexine and Zoe Gaignard, visited the St. Thomas Aquinas Cemetery in Madawaska on Wednesday to lay flowers at the grave of 2nd Lt. Onias Martin.
On Aug. 10, 1944, Martin was with the 5th Armored Infantry Division as it neared the tiny village of Bonnetable. It was on the outskirts of this French hamlet that a shell from an anti-tank gun took his life at the age of 25.
Over the night of his death, residents of Bonnetable laid flowers by his body and erected an impromptu memorial — a simple wooden cross topped with Onias’ helmet — in the spot where he fell. Years later, they raised money to build a larger, lasting stone monument so as to never forget the soldier’s sacrifice.
Frederic Gaignard volunteered to start caring for the memorial in Bonnetable several years ago when doing so became difficult for the older residents of the community. Since that time, he and his family have met and grown close to members of Martin’s family.
The Gaignards have visited Martin’s grave in Madawaska once before, in 2012, when, they brought soil from the ground around his memorial in Bonnetable and spread it at his gravesite.
“We have an emotional relationship with the Martins,” Veronique Rioux said Wednesday at the cemetery. “We want to pass that on to our children.”
Also attending the informal flower-laying ceremony Wednesday were Martin’s brother Raynald and his wife, Jennie, who both now live in Brewer, and Martin’s great-niece Lisa Grant of Orrington.
In 2014, several members of Onias Martin’s family traveled to Bonnetable, a town of about 4,000 residents about two hours west of Paris, to visit the memorial and meet many of the people who still honor his sacrifice.
More than 70 years later, that war is still relevant to many people in France, the Gaignards and Rioux said, with many celebrations held around the country commemorating various battles.
“My grandfather was a soldier in the French army before the war,” Frederic said. “He was injured and then joined the Free French resistance.”
“All of the families like the Martins are very touched by the war, even today,” said Rioux.
The couple added that the good relations between the residents of Bonnetable and the Martin family, and indeed with the United States, is a good thing for their children. In these times when there is so much strife in the world, Rioux said, it is good to see people forming good relationships.
There is a road in Bonnetable named after Martin, and the village still hosts an annual event on the date of his death.
In Bonnetable, the American is known as “Notre Onias,” which translates to “Our Onias.”