The Dirigo Men of Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery: Stories of Maine’s WWII Service Members

Located in Homburg, Belgium, Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery is the final resting place for 7,992 WWII service members, and where the names of 450 Missing in Action service members are commemorated. Fifty-four of these men called Maine home. From the state’s rocky coast along the Atlantic Ocean to its highest peak of Mount Katahdin and from towns in between, these men answered their country’s call. They left everything familiar to fight in a faraway land. They hugged their parents, siblings, spouses, and children goodbye. They missed their families. They dreamt of reunions. They wept. They suffered. They mourned. They sacrificed. They freed a continent. They liberated generations. Silenced by the passage of 80 years, their voices speak once again in The Dirigo Men of Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery: Stories of Maine’s WWII Service Members.

Aimee Gagnon Fogg is the great-niece of PFC Paul M. Lavoie of Nashua, NH, who is interred in Plot C Row 1 Grave 9 at Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Homburg, Belgium. She is the founder of They Speak: Voices of Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, which is dedicated to collecting the personal stories and photos of the nearly 8,400 men of HCAC. She is the author of several publications and is also the recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution Women in American History award. The Dirigo Men of Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery: Stories of Maine’s WWII Service Members is her third published title about HCAC. Aimee resides in New Hampshire with her husband, their three children, and their many pets.