Blackie Bolduc

My father in law died in late November after a long and wonderful life and the service was in early January.  A few memories include: the advice that to stay fit you only need 20 minutes exercise every day. - Blackie kept to this for as long as he was physically able. The story of the Roman general Tacitus apologizing for only having one shower that day, when I might have needed another shower myself. His logistical advice on pre-positioning my work clothes at work so I could run to work for exercise. His education in astronomy and the romance of the constellations above our heads. Finally there was the story of the skunk under the cabin, and how all of the standard ways to kill or trap a varmint would lead to a very smelly cabin and the ultimate answer to "live in harmony". Below are a couple of documents about Blackie's military career, of which I know little, having married into the family after he had retired. But I can also tell you about some of the objects Clare found helping her parents move to the army retirement community in San Antonio. She found a Japanese head scarf, some odd bits of metal, and a red cross armband. Blackie had grown up on the army base on Hawaii, and was a teenager living in Schofield army barracks during the Perl Harbor attack. One of the zeros had been shot down on the way out and the teenagers ran out to grab bits of the airplane and the head banner of the pilot. Later they helped as stretcher bearers. Blackie whilst slightly too young for WW2 did all that he could to join the war effort, but more than made up for his youth at that time with is later military career. The below obituary and CV give an idea of his accomplishments. He would have been 92 years old today.

“Major General Lucien E. Bolduc, Jr. (always known as “Blackie”), 90, passed on peacefully at his home at the Army Residence Community in San Antonio on November 30, 2017, surrounded by his children.

Blackie was born into the Army in 1927 as the son of one United States Military Academy graduate and the nephew of another; both spent careers on active duty. He grew up on Army posts and was a dependent at Schofield Barracks on Oahu when the Japanese attacked on December 7th, 1941.

While his father went to war and served in combat with the 222nd Infantry in Europe, and his mother worked as a factory foreman making machinegun bullets, Blackie attended the Manlius School in upstate New York. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1945, was discharged in December 1945, and served as an ordinary seaman in the Merchant Marine in the spring of 1946.

Blackie won a competitive appointment to West Point, entering in 1946 despite the advice of another former military uncle, who (mistakenly) warned him against an Army career: “there will be a long period of peace, and you won’t have anything to do.” Blackie was a four-year letterman on the Army Rifle Team, which won the National Intercollegiates in his final year when he was Team Captain. He made friends at West Point whom he treasured all his life.

On graduation in l950, Blackie jumped at the opportunity to become a parachutist, and began the first of a long series of airborne and non-airborne infantry assignments. He served with the 187th ARCT during the Korean War, and with the 9th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War.

Blackie always sought command responsibility (he used to say “I joined to soldier”), frequently achieved it, and always thoroughly enjoyed it. He was proudest of his service commanding the 3rd Battalion, 47th Infantry, which he organized and trained in Kansas, then deployed to combat in Vietnam as part of the Mobile Riverine Force.

Blackie had many staff assignments, including three on the Army Staff. When selected to teach French at West Point, he spent a year at the University of Paris. His mastery of French language and culture served him well when he returned to attend the French war college, and later to be Defense and Army Attaché.

Despite grumbling every time he got a “non-soldiering” job, he said he’d “never had a bum assignment.” He ruefully admitted that one assignment - which he opposed vigorously, but unsuccessfully - may have been the one which taught him the most about how the Army really functions. His abiding interest in training was fully challenged in his final assignment commanding the Training Center at Ft. Jackson.

Blackie’s awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Ribbon, and French National Order of Merit in the Grade of Commander.

Blackie and his wife of 64 years, the former Mary Fleming, had nine children, including two born in Japan and one in France. The children all finished college and some graduate schools, and many raised their own families.

Blackie and Mary settled in San Antonio on retirement. Blackie immediately set up a greenhouse to grow tomatoes year-round and launched a major effort in family genealogy. He also studied and became fluent in Spanish, learned how to use personal computers and smart phones, took up astronomy, and continued his abiding love of different kinds of music.

Blackie was active as a Regional Representative of the USMA Class of 1950, in the Texas Greenhouse Growers Council, the San Antonio Astronomical Association, and the Parkinson’s support group at the Army Residence Community.

He is survived by three sons, six daughters, 10 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild, who sorely miss him. When asked how he wanted to be remembered, he asked that people say “he cared.”

A memorial service will be held Saturday, January 6, 2018, at 11:00 AM in the Cheever Chapel in the Army Residence Community, 7400 Crestway Drive, San Antonio, Texas. A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, please contribute to the Salvation Army.”