Remembering World War II

Name: Frederick Clayton Boutilier Rank: Staff Sergeant Service Number: 31219544 Service: 457th Civil Affairs Battalion, US Army Date of Birth: April 20, 1920 Place of Birth: Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine Date of Enlistment: January 14, 1943 Place of Enlistment: Portland, Cumberland County, Maine Address at Enlistment: Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine Age at Enlistment: 22 Marital Status: Single Date of Death: June 14, 1945 Age at Death: 25 Cemetery: Forest Hill Cemetery, Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine Frederick Clayton Boutilier was the son of Clyde Benjamin Boutilier (1899-1961) and Thelma Almeda (Paine) Boutilier Briggs (1901-1987), and the brother of Benjamin C Boutilier (1923-1973), Josephine B Boutilier (1925-1984), Jerald Frank Boutilier (1932-1999), Murton P Boutilier (1932-1955), Burton P Boutilier (1934- 1936), Rodger Thomas Boutilier (1937-1998). Fred’s father was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His mother was born in Bridgton, Cumberland County, Maine. Fred was born in Bridgton, Maine but by 1930 he was living his grandparents Edmund J. and Jennie M. Fleury in Chicopee, Hampden Co., Massachusetts. By 1935, Fred and his grandmother were living in Putnam, Windham, Connecticut, and he work working as a cloth finisher at a woolen mill. Frederick enlisted in the Army as a Warrant Officer in Portland, Maine on January 14, 1943. His occupation prior to enlistment is listed as in the category of “Skilled pattern and model makers.” His death record indicated his occupation was shipyard worker prior to enlistment. Frederick enlisted in January of 1943. Eight months later in September 1943 and serving with the Artillery, he was admitted to military hospital at Camp Polk in Louisiana. Diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, he was discharged 3 months later in December 1943. He was discharged with disability having served 9-10 months. It is unclear if he was simply discharged from the hospital, or discharged from the US Army itself, because at the time of his death he was listed as serving with the 457th Civil Affairs Battalion of the US Army. WWII saw the US Army receive its Civil Affairs "charter." In 1943, the Pentagon activated the US Army Civil Affairs Division (CAD) on the recommendation of Provost Marshal General of the Army, Allen W. Gullion. Staff Sergeant Frederick died of illness, Hodgkins’ disease, in New York on June 14, 1945, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Bronx, New York City, New York. Frederick’s body was returned to his home state of Massachusetts and he was interred at the Forest Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Bridgton, Cumberland Co., Maine.

Frederick Clayton Boutilier

Sources: findagrave