Bernard Monroe Boullioun died today(12/06/2011) around 13:15. His passing will go largely unnoticed by most; but his loss is significant. He is just one more member of Tom Brokaw’s “Greatest Generation” which has been lost – and can never be replaced. With his death, one more leaf has fallen from the mighty oak – and the great shadow, which that tree once cast across this land, is rapidly diminishing.
Bernard Boullioun fit the model of his generation. He was borne in the shadow of World War I and the prosperity of the 1920’s, suffered through the hardships of that great 1930’s depression, then accepted the “call to serve” during World War II. He served as a flight engineer/gunner on the B24 Liberator – flying numerous sorties over the hostile enemy territories of occupied France, Italy, and Nazi Germany. In September 1943, his aircraft took a direct hit over Italy, and the entire crew found themselves surrounded by enemy forces. He was captured and detained briefly; however he seized an oportunity to escape and lived off the land for several weeks with the aid of a group of Catholic nuns and local Italian citizens. On Oct 1943, he made his way back to the Allied Forces. In Nov 1943, he returned for a short R&R in America, before returning to the front.
For the remainder of his life, Bernard Boullioun lived out the American dream which he had fought to preserve. In his great country, he found success, prosperity, and opportunity to provide for his family. Bernard Boullioun will be missed by his family. They will remember him as being full of life, sharp witted, and the man who would always be there for them, up to the final days of his life.
There are very few Bernard Boullioun’s left. And when the last one is gone, it will be a sad day in America. A Great Generation and all that they gave us will be only a memory – lost forever.