Saulnier Square Rededicated in Honor of Fallen WWII Soldier

NEW BEDFORD – Mayor Jon Mitchell was joined by elected officials and members of the Saulnier family Sunday afternoon for a rededication ceremony in honor of Roland G. Saulnier, a City native who died while serving in the Pacific during World War II.

Mayor Mitchell and others unveiled a new plaque to commemorate Saulnier Square, which is located by the South End Public Safety Center at the corner of Ruth Street and Brock Avenue.

“Roland Saulnier’s legacy is that of undaunted courage under unimaginably dire circumstances,” Mayor Mitchell said. “He fought with distinction in the defense of the Philippines after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and endured the horrors of the Bataan Death March, two years of captivity, and the depravity of a Japanese ‘hell ship.’ His sacrifice is an example of service future generations must continue to take to heart.”

Saulnier, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Saulnier of 88 Lucas St., was born in New Bedford on Oct. 27, 1918, and grew up in the South End. He attended St. Ann’s School and Continuation School, and got his first job at Kilburn Mill. Nicknamed “Frenchy” because of his strong French-Canadian accent, he enlisted in July 1940 in San Francisco and was sent to the Philippines two months later. He was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1942 and commanded the Third Battalion, 1st Regular Infantry of the Philippine Army during an invasion from Japanese soldiers.

His courage and heroics during the war were captured in old newspaper articles from February of 1942, in which one hailed his leadership of Filipino troops by stating “he won their respect through his own courage and they would follow him anywhere” and another stating “whenever they face problems, his troops call for Frenchy. Whenever fighting starts, he’s in the middle of it.”

“New Bedford is proud of Lieutenant Saulnier, both for his individual courage and because he exemplifies our ideal of a fighting American,” an old Standard-Times article from Feb. 26, 1942, states.

Second Lt. Saulnier was one of 75,000 prisoners of war captured by Japanese forces after the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines in the spring of 1942. He survived the Bataan Death March, a trek roughly 65 miles in which many of those POWs were brutally tortured or killed while being transferred to a Japanese military camp.

Second Lt. Saulnier was killed on Oct. 24, 1944 aboard the Arisan Maru, a Japanese freighter carrying more than 1,700 POWs out of the Philippines, when it was attacked while en route to Japan.

Saulnier Square in the South End was dedicated in his honor on July 4, 1946. The site has been at the center of considerable construction over the years with the building of the new South End Public Safety Center. With work on the site complete, the City rededicated Saulnier Square on Sunday afternoon with a brief ceremony and a new plaque on what would have been his 106th birthday.