Phillip J. Paquette was born on April 20, 1896 (1898) in New Hartford, Connecticut, his parents, Eugene and Ursula (née Corriveau) Paquette were... Show morePhillip J. Paquette was born on April 20, 1896 (1898) in New Hartford, Connecticut, his parents, Eugene and Ursula (née Corriveau) Paquette were both of French-Canadian descent. As a young man Philip went to work in New Britain and where he still lived at the start of the war. He was employed as an assembler at the Underwood Typewrite Company in Hartford when he was inducted into the U.S. Army on May 23, 1918. Philip served first in 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 152d Depot Brigade before being transferred to Quartermaster Corps, 25th Recruit Company on June 16, 1918. July 10, 1918 he was transferred to Supply Company, 321st Infantry Regiment, 161st Infantry Brigade, 81st Division, American Expeditionary Force, where he served until August 23, 1919. He served in France from August 14, 1918 to October 15, 1919 where he was gassed and received an honorable discharge as a Private First Class on October 25, 1919. Philip received a medal from the city of New Britain in recognition of his service. Philip returned to New Britain after the war residing on East Lawlor Street until he was married. He worked as a carpenter and millwright. His son relates that during the war his father was a runner, bringing ammunition or ordinates to the front lines by horse and carriage. He was based somewhere in France, but exactly where isn't clear and his son remembers his father saying that any of the records pertaining to his service or being gassed were ordered to be thrown overboard from the troop transport ship coming home. Another story his son remembers happened during WWII, when he was about six years old. A neighbor, who was Polish, asked his father to join the communist party but Philip just blew him off. Philip died at the Veterans Hospital in Newington, Connecticut on June 24, 1955 and is buried in St Mary Cemetery in New Britain. Show less