Four brothers enlisted

On Veterans Day many families in the U.S. remember relatives who served, as during World War II at least one of the men in most households was in the military. The Thompsons of Eastport, though, had four brothers enlist to serve their country. Elliott, Clifton, Carl and Donald were sons of Lebaron "Barry" and Hilda (Blackwood) Thompson, and the two oldest served in the Navy while the others joined the Army.
"My mother had four stars in the window," recalls the boys' younger sister, Mary Lyons of Veazie.
"I know Grammie and Grampie must have been very proud of those boys," stresses Clifton's daughter, Barbara Camick of Eastport.
Eldest brother Elliott Thompson was born on April 16, 1918, married Annie McCraken and was father to Patricia and twins Barry and Betty. Barry says he grew up knowing that his father served in the Pacific with a Seabee battalion but didn't hear any stories about the older man's years in the U.S. Navy. "One of the pictures that he had showed the destruction of an island. Not a tree was left."
"His ship was in combat in the area around the Marshall Islands," says his daughter, Patricia Magoon of North Anson.
Clifton LeBaron Thompson, who born on December 23, 1919, served in the U.S. Navy where he was seaman first class. "He enlisted on July 12, 1944, and was discharged on March 11, 1946," reports his daughter Barbara. "He was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas, and I don't know what he did there, but he didn't go overseas."
"He married my mother Pauline Cline and had children Barbara, Paul Clifton and Toby," she continues. "He was a great dad. Very caring."
"My father worked at Paispearl and became a born-again Christian in 1958 while attending the North Baptist Church," recalls Barbara. "He was a hardworking man who was dedicated to his family and died too soon on December 22, 1973."
Clifton's son Paul, who passed away in 2013, was well known for the great pride he had in tending to the U.S. flag at Bayside Cemetery in Eastport, and he took care of it for 40 years. "He wore a Seabee cap to honor my father," points out his proud older sister. "We loved our parents."
The next-to-youngest brother Carl Thompson, born on February 10, 1922, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, including a stop in the Azores. "He didn't marry," says Magoon of her uncle. "He left Eastport and worked as a bank examiner."
"I remember when I was in high school, I would see on the plaques in home room that Uncle Carl was a straight-A student," adds Barbara Camick. "He was stationed in the Houlton area during World War II and earned his college degree there. Someone in Ohio found in a house in which he had lived four of his life albums that showed his extensive traveling. He was friends with Jim Jollotta of Eastport, and I think because of Jim, there are photos of Carl with Franklin Roosevelt and his son and with the actress Olivia de Havilland." Both nieces remembered Carl's love of flower gardens.
The youngest of the Thompson brothers, Donald, who was born on February 26, 1924, served in the U.S. Army's deadliest fighting in Europe, and as both his niece Patricia Magoon and sister Mary Lyons point out, "He came home without a scratch" and then died as the result of an accident at the Eastport airport when he was only 24 years old.
Donald entered into active service on February 25, 1942, and served as clerk/typist in the Battery A 915th Field Artillery Battalion, which was involved in battles and campaigns in Normandy, northern France, the Rhineland and central Europe under General Patton.
"He was even at the Battle of the Bulge in Germany but came home safely," adds Lyons. Her brother earned a Good Conduct Medal, American Theater Ribbon, European African Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Ribbon and the Victory Medal. He returned to the U.S. on Christmas day 1945.
In the summer of 1948, the July 8, 1948, Eastport Sentinel reported, "Eastport was shocked yesterday afternoon on learning that Donald Thompson died as a result of the injuries sustained in the air crash that snuffed out the life of pilot Theodore Nielsen at the Eastport Airport on June 17. Thompson, 24, was pulled from the blazing wreckage of the light plane, which plunged to the ground shortly after take off, and Nielsen was instantly killed in the crash. Thompson had been making satisfactory progress in recovery from his injuries until Tuesday, when he suffered a relapse, and his family was summoned to his bedside that day. Before any member could get to Togus from Eastport, however, he died."
The July 15, 1948, issue of the Eastport Sentinel reported that Thompson received a funeral with full military honors on July 9 at the Central Congregational Church, with pall bearers Gates Johnson, Philip Kierstead, William Craig and Ralph Apt.
Donald had married Lavina Lank, and they were parents to two-year-old Ellen when he passed away. Lavina was also pregnant with a second daughter, Donna. When Lavina married Carl Goodwin of Calais, he adopted the two girls.
Grandfather was a Civil War veteran
The Thompson brothers' paternal grandfather Hugh Thompson had been a Civil War veteran, whose leg was amputated below the knee as a result of battle wounds. Granddaughter Mary Lyons says one of the family's favorite stories about him was that he had shaken hands with President Abraham Lincoln, but when his grandson Donnie reported about it in class the teacher said, "Don't lie," and did not believe him. Her mother Hilda angrily went up to the school to set the record straight.
On January 17, 1913, members of the U.S. House of Representatives noted that there was a petition from "John Otterbacher, Charlottesville, Va.; Knaggs and Plum, Bay City, Mich; and Hugh Thompson of Eastport favoring the passage of House Bill 1339 granting an increase of pension to veterans of the Civil War who lost an arm or leg; to the Committee on Invalid Pensions.
The Eastport Sentinel reported on Thompson's passing in its June 16, 1915, issue, announcing "Hugh Thompson, one of the few remaining veterans of Meade Post No. 40, G.A.R., passed away last Thursday night at his residence in the northern part of the city after an illness of nearly four months' duration."
"He was born more than 75 years ago in Eastport, the son of Hugh and Anne T., who had not long been married before coming to America from Ireland. He enlisted at the age of 20 in the Union Army in the very first days of the Civil War and fought in the ranks of the famous 'Fighting Sixth' Maine Regiment until disabled near the close of the long struggle by a wound, which finally necessitated the amputation of one of his legs. His war record was brilliant and is generally admitted to be one of the finest of the many credited to the local post."
"Mr. Thompson has for many years has been retired from active life, and during all of this time, although incapacitated from labor, he happily maintained a courage and good cheer that would do credit to a man in full possession of his health and strength. Kind, considerate, embodying all things good in the old type of husband, father and citizen, he will be mourned by many more than those of his own immediate family circle."