In January 2013, a visitor walking through the museum at American Memorial Park on Saipan stopped before a large photograph. It showed a young Marine carrying a small boy on his back. The caption read: Unidentified Yank Marine cares for orphaned child.
The visitor, Ed DesRosier, knew the face. It was his father, Fred.
Fred DesRosier came ashore on Saipan on June 15, 1944, a eighteen-year-old scout and sniper with the Marines. He survived the beachheads there and on neighboring Tinian, earning his high school diploma along the way.
When the worst of the fighting passed, Fred stayed on the island for a spell, helping care for children left behind by the battle. He worked alongside Spanish nuns, and on quiet nights he and a buddy would swim out to the Navy supply ships, coming back through the dark with beer for the troops and candy for the kids.
After his discharge, Fred returned to Browning, Montana, near the Northern Rockies. He lived there the rest of his days, serving as a councilman, police commissioner, and volunteer firefighter. He rarely talked about the fighting, though around hunting campfires in the woods he would tell his sons a few stories about the jungle and the men he served with.
Fred died in October 2016 at ninety-one. He left behind six children, thirty grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren.
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