Video by: Mr. Robert Robitaille
Summary of story told below:
Bob Robitaille '66, son of a World War II Veteran, class of '42 felt compelled to tell his story about his favorite place in the school, Veterans' Hall. While touring the school back in 2016, Robitaille was searching the wall that contained the list of graduated past veterans and could not find his father's and best man's names, in addition to several other names that he was looking for. Because of this, he decided to take action. With the help of Gail Bryson, Robitaille has added 600 names to the wall since he first began the project in 2016. Robitaille also decided to install a display case with artifacts from both his father and other veterans, including some who were killed or missing in action. Most recently in January of 2020, Robitaille interviewed a 96 year old, former V-17 navigator, who lives in Florida. Robitaille noted throughout the interview how important Veterans' Hall was to him, saying "It's a great memory for these guys, and it means a really, really lot to me.
Closed Captioning:
"Good Afternoon. My name is Bob Robitaille, and I am a graduate of Mount Saint Charles from the class of 1966. Previous to that, my father was a graduate of 1942. That's probably the biggest reason why I attended Mount Saint Charles. Back in the 60s, it was an all boys school. I had four of the greatest years of my life here- my youth anyway. As I was thinking of the place in the school that meant the most to me, it really comes later in life after I attended my 50th reunion (2016).
We took a tour of the school- I hadn't been here in quite a few years. Veterans' Hall was in place, and there were roughly 200 names on the wall. I looked for my dad's name. He was a pilot in World War II after graduating in 1942.... and his name wasn't up there. I looked for some of the people that I knew he went in with, and they weren't up there. My best man from 1966 wasn't up there, so I knew there were a lot of missing people.
Gail Bryson asked me if I wanted to work on the wall, and I gladly accepted that challenge. Since then (2016), we have added 600 people to the wall. A lot of them have passed, but I have a few good reference points where I started it four years ago. [It] was down at the genealogical library. They have the Woonsocket Calls from 1928-48, so it encompasses World War II. A lot of guys that went into the service [have] their pictures in there [and] articles, so I picked up a lot there. And then later on, I went to the genealogical society in Woonsocket and researched their Veterans' spreadsheets for names of people who graduated from here back in the 40s. So I've been lucky in that sense.
And then I got a recent volunteer by the name of Jerry... I forget his last name. But he basically- he is a Navy- retired guy, and he is putting guys names on the wall that he researches. So... you know, it's all been a very rewarding thing for me, so much so that I became involved in the Veterans' museum in Woonsocket. And I'm the treasurer there now. I have my father's stuff from World War II in there, and in the Veteran's Hall today, I also have a display case (see image above) that President Tenreiro asked me to install. I put some artifacts in there from both my dad and some other people- some of which have gotten killed in action and also for the president of the museum. His father was a graduate from 1941.
It's all been a special thing for me, and I most recently interviewed a 96 year old, former V-17 navigator, who lives in Florida. I was in Florida in January (2020) and I met with him for four hours, interviewed him, and we're gonna be showing that [interview] fairly soon. It all means so much to me because these Veterans gave up so much of their lives, and we have roughly 53 that were killed in action or missing in action. It's a great memory for these guys, and it means a really, really lot to me."