Mainer to receive medals for Bay of Pigs mission

Mainer to receive medals for Bay of Pigs mission
By Morning Sentinel Staff

Jack Hegarty of Dennistown Plantation, in northern Somerset County, was a 21-year-old sailor in the U.S. Navy when he and his mates shipped out for Cuba in April 1961.

The mission, which then-President John F. Kennedy had tried to keep secret, turned out to be the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, an unsuccessful attempt by armed Cuban exiles, funded by the United States, to overthrow the government of Communist leader Fidel Castro.

The failed invasion ushered in the breakdown in relations between Soviet-backed Cuba and the United States. It was further worsened by the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year.

The invasion is named after the Bay of Pigs, where the landing took place.

For his role as a radar controller onboard a military AD5W Skyraider during the invasion, Hegarty, 67, is to be awarded medals today at the office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in Augusta.

In a telephone interview on Thursday, Hegarty said he sent a letter to Collins, alerting her to the fact that the men who risked their lives in the covert operation nearly 47 years ago never were recognized for their bravery.

The result, he said, will be a ceremony this morning at the Muskie Federal Building on Western Avenue.

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4620592.html

Medals honor Battle of the Bulge veteran
Rene Gobeil of Biddeford receives replacement medals for his Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
By SETH HARKNESS
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald

BIDDEFORD — Rene Gobeil was 18 years old, living with his parents on Cleaves Street in Biddeford, when he was drafted into the Army in April of 1943.

Two years later, he returned home as a private first class and a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II for American soldiers. He brought with him a handful of military medals including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

Gobeil, a modest man who worked as a machinist for 45 years after leaving the Army, put his medals in a box and stored them at his parents' home. It was the last he saw of the awards until Friday morning, when U.S. Sen. Susan Collins presented him with a new set at her office on Main Street.

Gobeil, 83, said the original medals got lost when his father died and his mother sold the house more than half a century ago. His daughter, Denise, contacted Collins and arranged for her father to receive the replacements.

Gobeil said he was pleased by the recognition. He wore a sweater vest and a red tie for the occasion, and seemed surprised by the attention of several media outlets that covered the ceremony. He spoke about his service with Collins, whose own father is a World War II veteran who was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.

As a teenage infantry soldier, Gobeil was shipped to England. From there, he was sent to the front lines on the European continent during the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive of the war, which claimed the lives of nearly 19,000 Americans in December 1944 and January 1945.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=160160&ac=PHnws


Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer