By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Some 405,400 American soldiers lost their lives in World War II. It's a terrifying number, but it could have be even higher were it not for the thousands of soldiers who worked to preserve the lives of their fallen partners.

60-YEAR VETERAN – World War II veteran Leo Belisle stands in front of a granite sign marking the American Legion Merrill Follansbee Post 37 in Hooksett. Belisle, who hand-cut the sign, has held office with the American Legion since his return from the war in 1946. (Nicholas Brown Photo)

Leo Belisle of Hooksett was one of those soldiers. A member of the 16th Medical Supply Depot from when he was drafted in 1943 until his return home in March 1946, Belisle was responsible for preparing medical supplies used on the front lines and in field hospitals.

For the majority of his service, Belisle was stationed in France, arriving there just after the invasion at Normandy began. He and fellow medical depot soldiers waited each night for a train carrying wounded Americans. The wounded were taken to hospitals, and Belisle would refill the trains with medical supplies to go back to the fronts.

"It was an awful sight to see when the trains came in," Belisle said. "Men would be missing and arm or a leg. It was terrible."

Starting in Paris, Belisle's unit moved north toward Belgium, going wherever supplies were in need. Belisle would occasionally drive stocked trucks into neighboring countries. But Belisle's most dangerous border crossing came on the English Channel, after he'd been preparing for the Normandy invasion for a year.

Along with 1,500 other soldiers, Belisle was aboard the Empire Javelin, a British cargo ship headed for the coast of France. The ship was met by torpedo fire, and the passengers were forced to abandon. A nearby French destroyer vessel carried the men safely aboard. But just as the French ship pulled away, the English Javelin was struck by a second torpedo. The ship split in two and quickly sank.

"It was like what you see in those old war movies where the boat splits in half and the ends stick up out of the water," Belisle said. "But it wasn't a movie. It was right there." Belisle added that this kind of torpedo fire was common in the English Channel, but said, "we had no choice. We had to get over there."

While the event marked Belisle's entrance into the brutal realities of the war, he vividly recalls the event that marked the war's hard-fought conclusion.

He was on the ground in Paris on Feb. 3, 1945, when a stream of more than 2,000 American planes advanced overhead. They were making their way into Berlin, leading the bomb strike that would come to signal the defeat of the Nazi forces.

"They went in steady all day," Belisle said. "We found out the next day that the Germans had given up."

After the war, Belisle returned to Hooksett and immediately joined the American Legion, where he was recognized recently as a 60-year continuous member.

"I didn't even have my uniform off before they came and asked me to join," joked Belisle.

Through all of his 60 years with the American Legion, Belisle has held an official post. He's served as Post Commander at a Hooksett's Merrill Follansbee Post 37 in Hooksett.

In 1963 he was elected New Hampshire Department Vice Commander, and in 1964-65 was New Hampshire Department Commander, the highest state post. Belisle has also been an American Legion Alternate National Executive Committee member. Today, Belisle serves as a Sergeant in Arms with Post 37.

Just as constant as his commitment to the Hooksett American Legion has been Belisle's commitment to his family business, the rock quarry on Hackett Hill Road that his grandfather started in 1900. Belisle began working there when he was 14, breaking only to fight in the war.

"He can cut some stone, I'll tell you," said Belisle's wife of 58 years, Simonne.

A granite sign, hand-cut by Belisle, sits in front of the Hooksett American Legion Hall, the post's fourth building since Belisle joined.

Belisle's granite work has even circulated the highest ranks' former President Jimmy Carter has two book ends in the shape of New Hampshire that Belisle hand-cut.

Mr. and Mrs. Belisle live in Hooksett, and are surrounded by their four children, seven grandchildren and seven greatgrandchildren.