(CBS DETROIT) – A U.S. Navy sailor killed 80 years ago will be honored thanks to a Rochester teacher and his former student.
Matt Cottone, a high school social studies teacher in Rochester, and Ian Smith, who is now a junior at Adams High School, were able to identify Sailor Auvergne Breault of Escanaba, Michigan through the Albert H. Normandy Institute grant, according to the Michigan Education Association.
Breault was 20 years old when he died during the Normandy invasion known as D-Day. According to the American Battle Monuments Commission, he was ranked Torpedoman’s Mat Second Class at the time of his death.
Records show that Breault was aboard the USS Corry on June 6, 1944, when it was struck and sunk on Utah Beach, Normandy.
Courtesy of the Michigan Education Association
“This was a unique opportunity to take education beyond the classroom, to the beaches of Normandy, where so many brave Americans sacrificed their lives for the freedoms we and our allied partners enjoy every day,” said MEA Member Cottone . “Ian was the perfect partner and we got to work straight away.”
Cottone and Smith were selected to participate in the Albert H. Normandy Institute grant to help identify a Michigan soldier who died on D-Day and is buried in Normandy.
The duo was the only Michigan team to participate in the program administered by George Washington University.
MEA officials say the team found 10 people with the last name Breault on Facebook, narrowing the number to three people who said Auvergne looked like a relative. They were directed to the Delta County Historical Society and a library, where they were able to identify him
Two women identified as Breault’s nieces provided Cottone and Smith with his birth certificate, military registration, family photos and news clippings, according to a news release.
“I consider this adventure the latest in my ongoing efforts to help my students understand that the world is a much bigger place than just schools in Rochester,” Cottone said. “It has been a long and winding road, but one that has provided a unique learning experience for both me and Ian, and I can’t wait to share this experience with my students.”
MEA says Cottone and the student will write and recite a eulogy in Normandy, where it will be recorded in the archives of the Normandy American Cemetery. A copy of the eulogy will also be sent to Breault’s niece in Escanaba.
