Rioux, Maurice, S/SGT

After the war, Maurice was a commercial fisherman until he retired in 1985 (not sure of the exact year). He crewed on several scallopers and draggers from the ports of Fairhaven and New Bedford,  Massachusetts. He typically was at sea for 8 - 10 days and back home for 4 - 5 days.  We were certainly not wealthy, but we always had a roof over our heads, food on the table, and clothes to wear.  After surviving WWII and four decades of a very hazardous occupation, he finally succumbed just shy of his 72nd birthday to complications of his lifelong habit of chain smoking cigarettes (he told me once that he started smoking at the age of 12).

Like most WWII veterans, my father never said much about his service. There was a footlocker in a closet that contained a few souvenirs, such as German army patches, and I inherited a German military beer stein that he said he found in a bombed out house, but the rest was a mystery. After he passed away in 1990, and my mother in 1999, my sister gave me a few boxes she found in the attic of our family home. There were a few documents, his corroded good conduct medal, an Army ID card, and quite a few faded black and white snapshots which I scanned and digitally restored as best I could. I also submitted a request for his military records, and some documents actually survived the disastrous fire of July 12, 1973 at the archives storage in St. Louis, MO.  So, I've been able to piece together an outline of his service, although, as a former sailor, much of the Army jargon is unfamiliar to me.

My TWS profile is linked below:
SON:  navy.togetherweserved.com/bio/Terrence.Rioux