WWII military dog tag is that of ranking officer

A circa-World War II U.S. Army Identification Tag belonging to an Alex C. Bouchard was found on Saipan by a local male youngster, Gigo C. Tomokane, who claims he found it in the southern village of San Antonio on Saipan.

Alex C. Bouchard is actually Alexander C. Bouchard, an officer commanding the K Company, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27 Infantry Division out of New York State. He was born on Sept. 26, 1909, in Gloversville, New York.

During the invasion of Saipan on June 15, 1944, called “Operation Forager,” about 71,032 U.S. forces landed and attacked Saipan, with about 31,629 Japanese soldiers defending the island.

At that time, Saipan was considered the Japanese main defense in the Pacific against America. Records indicate that about 3,100 U.S. soldiers were killed while 29,500 Japanese died during the Battle of Saipan.

According to the book Campaign in the Marianas by Phillip A. Crowl, on July 5, 1944, Alexander C. Bouchard and his company were operating a major battle against the Japanese in the northern end of Saipan, where the Tanapag Village is now located. It was on that day that Captain Bouchard was mortally wounded. He died two days later, July 7, 1944, and was buried in The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Jan. 10, 1949.

The following paragraph is an actual excerpt from Campaign in the Marianas: “On the left of the 3d Battalion, 165th, Company L of the 105th was stopped in its tracks by fire from the opposite side of Harakiri Gulch and made no effort to force an entry into the canyon. To its left Company K, 105th, tried to work its way into the coconut grove, but fire from the uplands on the right interdicted the area, mortally wounding Captain Bouchard. The new company commander, 1st Lt. Roger P. Peyre, then withdrew south of the grove. The 2d Battalion, 105th, had spent the day working its way slowly along the shore line and the coastal plain north of Tanapag. It had mopped up a series of small pillboxes, most of them abandoned, and had discovered a live mine field directly in the path of its advance. By the end of the day it had not quite reached its scheduled line of departure, although the men had moved almost 800 yards through ground not previously reconnoitered”.

According to records, it indicated that Capt. Alexander C. Bouchard’s successor, 1st Lt. Roger P. Peyre, was also killed in the Battle of Saipan. Both soldiers’ names are inscribed in the American Memorial Park’s Court of Honor on Saipan.