Bethel’s Military Veterans

Veterans Honor Roll Park & bethelvets.info

The town of Bethel and its surrounding areas have a deep tradition of its citizens serving in the military.  According to William B Lapham’s book (History of Bethel, formerly Sudbury, Canada, Oxford County, Maine, 1768-1890: with a brief sketch of Hanover and family statistics), 185 men from the Bethel area served in the Civil War in various units: the Fifth Maine Volunteers, the Twelfth Maine Regiment, the Seventh Maine Battery, the Twentieth Maine Regiment, some twenty units in all. Perhaps the unit most closely associated with Bethel was the Fifth Maine Regiment which was commanded by Colonel Clark Edwards, a Bethel native. A review of the names in Lapham’s book reveals many that are common in Bethel, such as Bean, Brown, Freeman, Grover, and Twitchell.

233 men and women from Bethel and Mason served in World War II. The weekly Bethel Citizen printed excerpts of letters home from the men and women on military duty. Parents contributed news items to Editor Carl Brown who frequently devoted a front page column just to personal updates from those in military service wherever they were. These weekly columns were headed with an American flag. In 1944 the Bethel Citizen was a comprehensive news source for residents of Bethel and the surrounding towns on the status of World War II battles.

The Vietnam War was not a thought in the heads of most of the Gould Academy class of 1964. Our thoughts focused on sports, dances, clubs, parties, and to some degree, academics. Twenty-five male members of the Gould Academy Class of 1964 were citizens of Bethel or the surrounding areas. Of those, eighteen served in the military, to the best of recollections and records. There may be others to be identified. Those identified are:

  • Sam Bartholomew
  • Doug Bennett
  • Matt Brooks
  • George Decoster
  • John Ellingwood
  • Hugh Durgin
  • Greg Howe
  • Ralph Jackson
  • Maynard Morgan
  • Donnie Nowlin
  • Sonny Remington
  • Burnie Rice
  • Dale Stevens
  • Jonny Stowell
  • Stuart Twitchell
  • Irving York
  • Donald E. Young
  • Donald R. Young

Vietnam was our war, the class of 1964. Of those eighteen members of the class of 1964 who served in the military, eleven served in Vietnam.  All have their names on the Veterans Honor Roll Park monuments. They are Matt Brooks, Greg Howe, Ralph Jackson, Maynard Morgan, Donnie Nowlin, Sonny Remington, Burnie Rice, Jonny Stowell, Irving York, and both Donny E and Donny R Young. Other members of the class served in assignments in foreign locations or stateside, performing their duties with pride and dedication.

This website, bethelvets.info, has been created to honor veterans of the Class of 1964 by creating digital memories of their military service. The site is working with the Veterans Honor Roll Park (VHRP) to allow names on the monuments there to have a story. In other words, a visitor to the VHRP who views a name on a monument can search bethelvets.info and hopefully find more about the veteran, such as rank, duty stations, skill sets, awards, combat experiences, and life after service.

This site will allow future generations to learn more information about the Class of 1964 veteran, not only those listed on the VHRP but the other members of the 1964 class who served in the military and are not yet listed on the Honor Roll. If these veterans would like to submit their names and military experiences to be included in the bethelvets.info web site, please contact Greg Howe at jgreghowe@comcast.net.

Other Bethel area veterans of other service periods can also have their military biography on the bethelvets.info web site. The veteran can compose his/her own military bio or, as a volunteer editor, request or receive information from the veteran or members of his/her family, if deceased, and then compose a mil bio about that veteran. That information should include basic biographic information - date and place of birth, schools attended before Gould, college attended if applicable, date and place of entry on active duty, military schools attended, Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), stations, foreign service tours and dates, unit assignments, combat experiences, awards and decorations, separation date, Honorable Discharge date, post military life (city or town, employer, marriage data, spouse, children, retirement). Pictures of his units, stations, operations, uniforms, awards, etc are welcome. Volunteer editors should sent completed military bios to Greg Howe at the above e-mail address to post on the web site, ensuring that the veteran or his/her survivors have approved the narrative. Nothing will be posted on the web site until the veteran approves it. Only veterans with Honorable Discharges will be included.

Hopefully volunteer editors will step up and act as sponsors for their classes, military units, or service branches. A love of history and the military is required. Please volunteer and honor these Bethel area veterans.