58 years later, vet joins Book of Honor Bangor man killed in World War II

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It was April 1943 when the “Me and My Gal” landed at Bangor’s Dow Field on its way to the European theater during World War II.

Aboard the B-17F was Staff Sgt. Dennis T. Cullinan Jr., a Bangor native who had joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1938.

“He looked me up and asked me to take him to Ellsworth to see his sister,” recalled Richard Shaughnessy, Cullinan’s cousin who lives in Brewer.

“I took him down and brought him back. He was here just a few days,” he said.

Shaughnessy doesn’t remember the conversation with his older cousin as anything special, but he knows what happened next.

Cullinan, a waist gunner aboard another B-17F once he arrived in Europe, was one of 10 crewmen aboard when the plane was shot down over France on May 17. Cullinan and five others were killed.

At the end of World War II, the City Council commissioned the Bangor Book of Honor to remember those who died in the war.

“Bangor Remembers Her Sons Who Died for Victory,” the inscription reads. The book is displayed in a glass-topped case by the library’s circulation desk.

Families of each man were asked to share a picture and information so a page could be devoted to the serviceman, but nothing was received on Cullinan for more than 50 years.

Last November, another cousin, Norman Taber of Bangor, dropped off a picture of Cullinan at the Bangor Public Library.

The photograph inspired Bill Cook, local history librarian at the BPL, to seek out information about Cullinan so his page could be prepared for the Book of Honor.

Cook has made good use of his strong interest in military history to piece together Cullinan’s story, from his early years in Panama to his re-enlistment in 1941 and his time in the Pacific.

Cullinan was injured in the Battle of Coral Sea and hospitalized for five months – a fact Shaughnessy doesn’t recall his cousin ever mentioning.

The mission of Cullinan’s squadron, part of the 305th Bomb Group in Europe, was to attack the German submarine pens at Lorient, France.

A Luftwaffe aircraft carrying 15-millimeter cannons hit the plane “and both engines on the left side caught on fire,” Cook said.

Four members of the crew survived. The pilot and co-pilot became German prisoners of war. The bombardier and radio operator made their way to Spain with the help of the French Resistance.

Six of the crew died, including Cullinan. He and two others are buried at Guidel, the remaining three in Vannes, France.

Calligrapher Jan Owen has prepared the text to go with Cullinan’s picture, Cook said.

A ceremony to add Cullinan’s page to the Book of Honor will be held at noon Wednesday at the Bangor Public Library. An honor guard will be provided by the Junior ROTC at Bangor High School and by the Maine Air National Guard.

Also this month, the library has an exhibit honoring Cullinan on the landing in the stairway between the second and third floors.

With only a single photo of Cullinan available, Cook has augmented the display with items from his own collection – among them a uniform shirt with staff sergeant patch, document copies, an oxygen regulator and a seat cushion from a B-17. Collector Paul Zebiak of Brewer has shared a Purple Heart.

Shaughnessy and other relatives hope to attend the ceremony, though his cousin has no immediate family members left. Cullinan’s mother died when he was 3, his father died in 1966 and his sister died a few years ago.

Cook is gratified that Cullinan’s cousins came forward to make sure he was remembered.

“By honoring this one veteran, we’re honoring all veterans,” he said.

Listed in the Bangor Book of Honor are:

. W. Carleton Orr, died Dec. 7, 1941.

. John Leslie Coffin Jr., Dec. 8, 1941.

. Claire Frederic Dunphey, March 1, 1942.

. Arnold Perry Price, May 14, 1942.

. Robert P. Grant, May 27, 1942.

. Joseph J. Babbain Jr., June 11, 1942.

. Harold G. Eaton, June 28, 1942.

. Ralph A. Scherer, Oct. 19, 1942.

. James A. Snodgrass, Oct. 26, 1942.

. George Pomeroy, Nov. 8, 1942.

. Lawrence M. Giles, Jan. 7, 1943.

. Glenn St. Germain, March 22, 1943.

. Joseph Herbert Kobritz, April 20, 1943.

. Donald Herbert Fogg, April 23, 1943.

. Garland Louis Strang, May 4, 1943.

. Edward Francis Chisholm, May 16, 1943.

. Harold Breen, June 14, 1943.

. Joseph R. Sarnoski, June 16, 1943. Awarded congressional Medal of Honor; had been stationed at Dow Field for six months.

. Harold A. Slager, July 25, 1943. Reserve center later named for him.

. Lawrence R. Blethen, July 27, 1943.

. Lloyd Kenneth Robinson, Aug. 18, 1943.

. Benjamin Howe Jr., Aug. 19, 1943.

. John Francis Curran, Oct. 6, 1943.

. Leonard Victor Ashworth Jr., Oct. 30, 1943.

. Harry V. Doggett Jr., Oct. 31, 1943.

. Linwood W. Perkins, Nov. 1, 1943.

. George Ellis Watson, Nov. 3, 1943.

. John Corey Kelley, Nov. 11, 1943.

. Carl Joseph Jansson, Dec. 15, 1943.

. W. Stuart Treworgy, Jan. 26, 1944.

. Nelson Edwards Wilson, Feb. 22, 1944.

. Horace Nathan Comstock, Feb. 24, 1944.

. Philip James Black, March 19, 1944.

. J. Edgar AuCoin, April 16, 1944.

. Richard Brooks Jones, April 20, 1044.

. James Edward Flood Jr., May 13, 1944.

. Rodney J. Gerrish, May 23, 1944.

. Charles Edward Small, May 29, 1944.

. Arnold R. Kelley, June 21, 1944.

. Shelley Doyle Montgomery, June 20, 1944.

. George H. Rogers, June 22, 1944.

. Edgar Vincent Blake, June 26, 1944.

. Guy Marsh Jr., June 30, 1944.

. Willis Elwood Hendrickson, July 1, 1944.

. Donald M. Kilpatrick Jr., July 8, 1944.

. Kenneth R. Burns, July 22, 1944.

. Charles John Taylor, July 27, 1944.

. Eugene Vincent Williams, Aug. 1, 1944.

. Joseph Henry Ferguson, Aug. 3, 1944.

. Howard William Getchell, Aug. 4, 1944.

. Carl Owen Hackett, Aug. 15, 1944.

. Arthur Duncan Gallupe, Sept. 1, 1944.

. Miles B. McDougal Jr., Sept. 6, 1944.

. Donald Llewellyn Barker, Sept. 7, 1944.

. Alonzo Dyer, Sept. 8, 1944.

. James Alton Faulkingham, Sept. 17, 1944.

. Merle Lawrence Condon, Sept. 26, 1944.

. Fields Seeley Pendleton III, Oct. 12, 1944.

. Harrison William Frye, Oct. 14, 1944.

. Theodore J. Chase, Oct. 24, 1944.

. Renfrew A. Yerxa, Nov. 4, 1944.

. Harry Lester MacDonald, Nov. 12, 1944.

. Max E. Walls, Nov. 13, 1944.

. John R. Follett, Nov. 21, 1944.

. Charles Augustin Flanagan, Nov. 25, 1944. The Maine World War II Memorial at Cole Land Transportation Museum, Perry Road, is modeled after Flanagan.

. Kenneth P. Reynolds, Nov. 25, 1944.

. Charles Albert Fessenden, Nov. 27, 1944.

. Walter L. Crawford Sr., Dec. 4, 1944.

. Lauren L. CoWallis, Dec. 6, 1944.

. Charles W. Morrill, Dec. 13, 1944.

. Howard G. Smith, Dec. 18, 1944.

. John Allen Richard, Dec. 22, 1944.

. Raymond Horace Noye, Dec. 31, 1944.

. John Francis Corey, Jan. 4, 1945.

. Wallace Henry McGlauflin, Jan. 4, 1945.

. Vaughan Reginald Olson, Jan. 4, 1945.

. Ralph Louis Clapp, Jan. 8, 1945.

. Waldo E. Robinson Jr., Jan. 13, 1945.

. Bernard J. Cyr, Jan. 14, 1945.

. Gerald Decker Strout, Jan. 15, 1945.

. Arthur F. Stimpson, Jan. 18, 1945.

. Thomas R. Graffam, Jan. 21, 1945.

. Eugene John Ranks, Jan. 21, 1945.

. Bernard J. Bertels Jr., Jan. 22, 1945.

. Ralph Linley Cunningham Jr., Feb. 11, 1945.

. James Stewart MacKaye, Feb. 11, 1945.

. Austin Rodney Keith, Feb. 25, 1945.

. Donald Holman Ayer, March 4, 1945.

. John H. Budway, March 6, 1945.

. Frederick Paul Keezer, April 1, 1945.

. John A. Willette, April 4, 1945.

. Ernest A. Burke, April 13, 1945.

. Carl S. Spragg, April 16, 1945.

. Ferd Charles Flagg, April 21, 1945.

. Charles F. Peterson, May 10, 1945.

. George T. Richards, April 2, 1945.

. William G. Burgess Jr., April 14, 1945.

. Frederick Coleman Murphy, May 6, 1945.

. Donald Aldrich McKenna, May 27, 1945.

. Gerald Constantine Ryder, June 14, 1945.

. Paul H. Eames Jr., July 30, 1945.

. Edward D. Rattray, Sept. 15, 1945.

. James Daniel Cassidy Jr., Sept. 19, 1945.

. Wilber Elmore Bradt, Dec. 1, 1945.

. Charles Albert Bean, Jan. 2, 1946.

When the Bangor Book of Honor was placed at the library, there still were nine men for whom there were no pictures. With the addition of Cullinan, the library still is looking for pictures and information on four:

. William H. Ivey.

. Harvey B. Lovett.

. Bernard Striar.

. Aubrey Francis Withee.

People with information for the Bangor Book of Honor may call Bill Cook at 947-8336, Ext. 103, or write the library at 145 Harlow St., Bangor, ME 04401.