The best match for Francis Bourbeau on Ancestry shows his birth date as June 12, 1922 and date of death as Otober 1, 1973 at age 51 in San Diego. It is unknown if he was still in service at that time.
Francis Bourbeau enlisted September 16, 1942 and was first stationed in San Diego. Muster rolls show him in MAG-21 in October, 1943. He returned to Quantico in April, 1945. where he advanced rapidly and made Staff Sergeant 1945. Bourbeau was discharged November 21, 1945.
MAG-21 suffered 17 casualties and all 21 of their aircraft were destroyed during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Squadrons from MAG-21 fought at the Battle of Wake Island, Battle of Midway and as part of the Cactus Air Force during the Battle of Guadalcanal but the group itself remained at MCAS Ewa until February 1943 when they departed for Banika in the Russell Islands. By June 1943, MAG-21’s squadron were fighting large scale operations against Japanese installations in the northern Solomon Islands. The group moved to Efate in November 1943 and remained there until June 1944. Their final destination during the war was on Guam where they were based from August 1944 until the end of the war.
Two SB2U-3s of VMSB-241, MAG-21, take off from Eastern Island shortly before the Battle of Midway
The squadron returned to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in March 1946 with follow on movement to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. They were deactivated in April 1947.
Bourbeau re-enlisted in the Marines in October, 1950 as a Staff Sergeant. Muster rolls only go through 1958 at which time he was a Technical Sergeant. There is no record for him beyond that on the web.
Bourbeau’s rack of medals includes Marine Good Conduct, Asiatic/Pacific Campaign, American Campaign, WW2 Victory, US Korean Service, and Korea medal. Also incuded is his Expert Rifleman badge, and a seperate National Defense medal. Two medal boxes and some removed brooches are included. About 25 original photos from Korea, some of which are dated 1960, are included. Many photos are identified on the back. A damaged Imperial pocket knife is part of the group.
