"Frenchy" as he was known in Easy Company was from North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Frenchy was the youngest of thirteen children and grew up at a difficult time during the "Great Depression". At age seventeen Frenchy gave up his youth as did many of his childhood friends and joined the Army in 1943. After his basic training and paratrooper infintry training Frenchy was sent to England in early 1944.
After he arrived in England he was assigned to Easy Company 506th PIR of the 101st Airborne Division sometime during February of 1944. On May 19th 1944 just two weeks before D-Day Frenchy turned nineteen and on June 6th, 1944 jumped into Normandy with the rest of Easy Company, he jumped from the same C-47 as did Lt. Richard Winters who was his platoon leader at the time. When Frenchy jumped into Normandy on D-Day he landed in an apple tree in a field on the outskirts of Ste. Mere Eglise, he could speak french and went to a local farm house where a farmer and his family were able to tell him where he was and gave him directions as to where he should be heading from the maps that he was carrying with him.
Frenchy was separted from the rest of Easy Company for about thirtysix hours and after he rejoined them he went on to fight in the Battle of Carentan, several weeks had passed and Easy Company was returned back to England. In September of 1944 Frenchy and Easy Company were again called to duty and he took part in "Operation Market Garden" in Holland and again he took part in the "Battle of The Bulge" at Bastogne during the winter of 1944 and 1945. At Bastogne he suffered from severe trench foot and frozen legs and was hospitalized for several months.
Once he recuperated he went back to Easy Company and finished out his remaining day's with the Army in Austria. Frenchy was discharged from the Army in December of 1945 and returned back to Rhode Island where he met his wife Rita and had a family. He was proud of his military service and would tell people that he was not a hero but merely did his duty for his country. When I was younger my father did not speak of WWII often and only started to talk about the war after the miniseries "Band of Brothers" came to light in 2001.
Frenchy had great respect for and spoke highly of Richard Winters and Carwood Lipton. In June of 2001 Frenchy was reunited with the remaining veterans of Easy Company at the reunion in Paris and Utah Beach, Normandy. Frenchy died on January 15th, 2005 and is sadly missed by his wife of 57 years Rita, children Jerry and Susan, four grand children and three great grand sons.
Jerry Lamoureux
son of "Frenchy" Paul Lamoureux
