Bouchards – One is MIA but not forgotten
Bonner’s Bouchard Family
While many old Missoula families have long and cherished ties to the military few of them reach the level of sacrifice and service that the Bouchard family has. Of the four Bouchard brothers raised in Bonner, Mt., three joined the Navy and a fourth joined the Air Force. Joseph, Charles “Pat”, and Michael were all Navy servicemen, while the youngest, John “Sandy” served in the Air Force. All but Pat made careers of the military.
Growing up in Bonner, Mt., these brothers attended schools there and went to high school in Missoula. Their father, Joseph Albert Bouchard, was born in Frenchtown, Mt. in 1891 and enlisted in the 2nd. Montana Infantry in 1917 during WW I. He married Cynthia A. ‘Tootsie’ Taggart of Toston, Montana in 1924. Her family had moved out of state and then back to Montana when she was a youngster; and at different times she lived in Miller Creek, Orchard Homes, and at Twin Creeks on the Blackfoot. As an employee of the Anaconda Lumber Co., Joseph and the family settled in a “company house” in Bonner. The Bouchards are enrolled members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation and can trace their lineage to the early Finley family through their grandmother, Denise Courville Bouchard, who was born in Frenchtown in 1867.
Tragedy struck the Bouchard family in December of 1968 when their son, Lt. Mike Bouchard, was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, while flying an A6 Intruder. On his third tour in Vietnam, it was believed that both Mike and his navigator were able to eject from the aircraft but, while the navigator survived, no trace of Mike was ever found. In an article in the Missoulian newspaper on Jan. 16, 2000, Mike’s brother Joe stated that he had been “selected to join the crack Blue Angels exhibition team, the first combat pilot to be so honored.”
Mike was classified as missing in action until 1973, when the Navy changed his status to “Presumptive Finding of Death.”[1] He was promoted to Lieutenant Commander while MIA. He was one of 23 Missoulians killed in that conflict.
Oldest brother Joseph S. Bouchard passed away in Missoula on March 12, 2003. He began his career in the Navy at the tail end of WWII as a gunner’s mate aboard an LST in the Pacific. He served in China, where he helped evacuate Americans from Manchuria, Korea and Viet Nam. He retired from the Navy in 1976 with 32 years active service with the rank of Commander. More details about his interesting career can be found at the links below:
http://www.fortmissoula.org/exhibits/korean/bouchard.shtml
Youngest brother John ‘Sandy’ Bouchard graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1963, flew in Viet Nam also, and lives in Oregon.
Pat worked for Mountain Bell and then started his own business, C. P. Communications. He retired in Polson, Mt. in 1992 and died on December 10, 2006.
A son of Joseph S. Bouchard, Joseph F., also had a successful career in the U.S. Navy. Dr. Joseph F. Bouchard graduated from the Naval Academy and earned a Ph. D. from Stanford University where he was author of “Command In Crisis.” It is a highly regarded study of the activities of naval units in 4 distinct events; one being the Cuban Missile Crisis, and focuses on the management of these crises during the hostilities and the potential for inadvertent escalation during these actions.
Dr. Joseph Bouchard retired as a Captain in 2003 after serving as commander of the Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base. He had also served in the White House as an advisor and commanded the destroyer, USS Oldendorf.[2]
A link to a Jan 16, 2000 Missoulian article about Dr. Joseph F. Bouchard appears below: