June 2025 Lights of Peace flag to Honor WWII SEE BEE Veteran Maurice L.R. Dore

During the month of June, the 69th Lights for Peace flag to fly at the
Fort Taber – Fort Rodman Military Museum honors the memory of
SSM2c Maurice Louis Rene Dore, who served in the U.S. Navy as a Sea
Bee, during WWII. It is fitting that Dore be honored during the month
of June in recognition of the 81st Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy.
Dore was born on June 30, 1923, in Fall River, the son of Joseph Dore and Eugenia (Berard) Dore. He was a
graduate of BMC Durfee High School and enlisted in the military on December 7, 1942, at the age of 19, ex
actly one year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. According to his military records, Dore was assigned
to the 81st Construction Battalion and attended the Naval Construction Training Center in Williamsburg, VA.
Moe explained that his dad, who was fluent in French, was encamped on a farm where he met 4 young chil
dren who had lost their mother from an air strike and their father was in a Nazi work camp. The children, 9
year-old Genevieve, 7-year-old Emilienne, 5-year-old Auguste and 3-year-old Pierre, had been given a tent by
the U.S. Army since their house had been destroyed by allied bombing. Dore, who was 20 years old at the
t
ime, took the children under his wing, providing food, water and much needed necessities.
In October of 1944, after concluding their assignment in Normandy, Dore’s battalion arrived at the Naval Con
struction Training Center at Davisville, RI, a village within North Kingstown. Then after additional training, the
81st Construction Battalion was sent to Okinawa in June of 1945, where they remained until the war’s end.
According to the Sea Bee History of WWII, “Like other Seabee units, they focused on building and maintaining
critical infrastructure, including airfields, roads, and bases necessary for supporting the military campaign.”
SSM2c Dore was awarded the following medals for this military service: the WWII Victory Medal, the Europe
an-African-Middle Eastern Medal with 1 star, and the Asiatic Pacific area Medal with 1 star.
After completing his military service, Maurice was employed at the Fall River Electric Light Company for 33
years, retiring in 1986. He also worked part time for Boule Funeral Home for over 40 years. He was a commu
nicant of the Holy Trinity Church and an active member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society for over 40 years.
Maurice Dore passed away on January 16, 2019, at the age of 95.
In 2011, Maurice’s son, Moe decided to fulfill a long-time dream of visiting Normandy, France with the hopes
of locating the children that his father had helped all those years ago. With the help of a tour guide, they
eventually were able to meet Genevieve and Emilienne, who were 76 and 74 year old grandmothers. Now,
during the month of June 2025, to commemorate the 81st Anniversary of D-Day, relatives of the family that
Dore helped, will be coming to Massachusetts to visit the Dore family. Moe explained, “If there is a lesson to
be learned today, especially in these divisive times, perhaps it’s that showing kindness and compassion can
have a huge ripple effect that will have a positive impact on people’s lives possibly for generations.”