Army Spc. Beau R. Beaulieu

Died May 24, 2004 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

---

20, of Lisbon, Maine; assigned to the 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed May 24 during a mortar attack on Camp Cooke in Taji, Iraq.

---

Fort Hood soldier killed in Iraq mortar attack

Associated Press

FORT HOOD, Texas — A Fort Hood soldier was killed this week in a mortar attack in Iraq, the Defense Department said Wednesday.

Spc. Beau R. Beaulieu, 20, of Lisbon, Maine, died May 24 in Taji, Iraq, during the attack on Camp Cooke. Multiple mortar rounds fell on the camp, located about 12 miles north of Baghdad, officials said.

Beaulieu was a signal support specialist assigned to the 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division.

He joined the Army in June 2002 and had been stationed at Fort Hood since February 2003, post officials said.

---

Maine soldier killed in Iraq

LISBON, Maine — A 20-year-old soldier who died of injuries sustained in a mortar attack in Iraq represented another tragedy for a family that already had suffered an incredible loss.

Army Spc. Beau R. Beaulieu’s stepfather, Frederick Field Jr., was the brother of Staff Sgt. Thomas Field, who was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, after being killed in the 1993 firefight detailed in the book and movie “Black Hawk Down”.

“I can’t even imagine how difficult it would be to have a couple immediate family members, loved ones, lost under these circumstances,” said Jim Bennett, a Lisbon native and friend of the Fields who is now city manager in Lewiston. “It has to be the most challenging circumstances anyone can go through.”

Beaulieu died Monday at Camp Cooke in Taji, on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, while serving with the 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. The Army is investigating the incident.

His brother, who’s in Army basic training at Fort Knox, Ky., returned to Maine, along with their father.

Their mother, Dona Field, said Wednesday that she has many wonderful things to say about her son, but she was too upset to talk. “It’s just too hard to get my thoughts together right now,” she said.

Beaulieu and his wife Christina were members of the class of 2002 at Lisbon High School and were married shortly before he left for Iraq.

Students and faculty members at the school were informed of Beaulieu’s death by an announcement over the intercom.

Teachers told Principal Kenneth Healey that talking to the media about Beaulieu would be too much to bear.

“Most of the teachers said it was just too emotional,” Healey said. “He was revered and loved, and there’s just too much of an emotional attachment to be able to speak about him.”

In the school’s yearbook, Beaulieu said he was going into the Army as a signal support specialist for four years and then planned to go on to college.

“He’s a person who believed in what was right,” said Jill Hooper, his former English teacher at Lisbon High School. “Him being part of the Army just didn’t surprise me. He would have felt that was his duty and something he would be proud to do.”

Baldacci contacted the family to offer his condolences and his gratitude to the family for its sacrifices. He said flags in Maine will be ordered flown at half-staff on the day of Beaulieu’s funeral.

“This family has given so much to ensure the freedoms of our nation,” Baldacci said.

Two soldiers from Maine died last month in Iraq, bringing to nine the number killed there since the fighting began.

Sgt. Lawrence Roukey, 33, of Westbrook, joined the Army Reserve after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Roukey, a father of two, was killed in an explosion April 26 after a team looking for chemical weapons raided a Baghdad warehouse.

Six days earlier, Spc. Christopher Gelineau, 23, of Portland, died in an ambush on a military convoy in Mosul. He was a student at the University of Southern Maine.

— Associated Press

---

Soldier killed in Iraq buried with military honors

LEWISTON, Maine — The father of Spc. Beau Beaulieu says that when his son was born, he knew he would be special.

“Not only was Beau a son, he was a friend and also my mentor,” his father, Tim Beaulieu, wrote in a statement read by Tim’s brother, Albert. “He taught me much by his actions and ways. A brother, a friend, a perfect son — this is his character.”

Nearly 400 people attended Beaulieu’s funeral Thursday at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship Church, near the border of his hometown of Lisbon.

Family and friends passed a box of tissues as Maj. General Conrad Ponde Jr. presented Beaulieu’s family with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. Gov. John Baldacci delivered a Maine state flag flown over his residence, the Blaine House.

Beaulieu died May 24 at Camp Cooke in Taji, on the northern outskirts of Baghdad, while serving with the 27th Main Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. He was 20.

Beaulieu’s stepfather, Frederick Field, lost his brother, Staff Sgt. Thomas Field, after his Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993.

“Our hearts cry out,” Field said Thursday, fighting tears. “We love you, Beau Ramsey Beaulieu. We are forever entwined from here to eternity to your heart of gold.”

Beaulieu and his wife, Christina, were members of the class of 2002 at Lisbon High School and were married shortly before he left for Iraq.

A photograph of the couple was one of 24 shown in a slide show set to “So Rest High on that Mountain” by country star Vince Gill.

Slides showed Beaulieu’s transformation from a chubby toddler into a grown man in uniform. In each picture, his eyes crinkled and his smile was broad.

After the funeral, relatives carried Beaulieu’s flag-draped casket to a hearse destined for the new Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta, where he was buried with full military honors.

— Associated Press