The United States lost 31,651 servicemen in the Korean War, among them one from the village of Still River. At the head of Still River Depot Road, there’s a memorial for the soldier killed in what’s been called America’s “Forgotten War,” his name etched in almost indiscernible letters: Cpl. Roger B. Skillings, Korea, 1950.
During a recent visit, Roger’s younger sister, Jane Skillings Turini Boudrot, stopped at her brother’s memorial. While we took pictures, neighbors Steve and Kate Peisch inquired about the connection with the memorial.
“It’s for my brother, Roger,” Jane explained. “When he’d turned 18, he enlisted. My older brother, Roy, was 21 and just back from a tour in Germany. He wanted to be with Roger, so he re-enlisted to surprise him in Japan. They had been through a lot together and were very close.”
Roger was still a teenager when his regiment of young, newly trained soldiers was called by General MacArthur to reinforce the initial U.S. force in Korea. Their mission was holding the high ground west of Yongdong on the Pusan Peninsula to help the retreating Allies escape the advance of the North Korean army.
A new plaque covers the weathered etching on the Still River memorial honoring Cpl. Roger B. Skillings, who was killed in the Korean War. (Phtoo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
On July 25, 1950, Company D was overrun, with 275 American soldiers killed. A bullet ricocheted off Roy’s rifle and ripped through his hand, destroying two fingers. He was returned to Walter Reed Hospital, but Roger was missing. His body was finally recovered six months later when United Nations forces retook the terrain. Jane said Roy never got over leaving his little brother behind.
“We were originally from Pine Point, Maine—five children, with Roy, Roger, me, and my sisters, Arletta and Viola,” said Jane. “When I was seven, our widowed mother died in an accident, and we became orphans. At 18, Arletta became mother for the four of us. She had no money, so we moved to a garage apartment while Roy and Roger were placed in the state’s Goodwill Home in Hinckley, Maine. That’s when Arletta met Johnny.”
An Army cook stationed at Camp Ellis in Saco, Maine, 21-year-old John Turini, from Clinton, met Arletta at a dance at the Old Orchard Beach pier. Turini fell hard, married the Maine beauty, and brought her and the Skillings girls home to the Italian “Acre” in Clinton. Johnny and Arletta adopted Jane before John was deployed to England and on to a Normandy landing craft for day three of the invasion. He returned to Fort Devens after a German bullet shattered his ankle in a Belgian field.
With the end of the war, John and Arletta moved the family to Still River Depot Road in Still River.
“When Roy was old enough to enlist and leave the state home, Roger ran away often,” Jane recalled, “so Johnny brought him to live with us. The man was a saint. Arletta gave birth to Linda, and I became both her aunt and sister.”
When the Peisches heard Jane’s story, her visit took an unexpected turn.
“Jane, your old house,” Steve said, “we live there now!” He invited us down, and Jane gave us a tour.
“Those kitchen cabinets—Johnny, made those. This was my bedroom. And here is the window where my sister Viola would watch Cliff Watt ride by outside on his tractor. They married when I was 18. And right here, where your sofa is now, this is where my husband, Mel, proposed the night after he’d spotted me out with another boy.”
Jane’s been back to Harvard, but this visit included her first look inside the new Harvard library and the original Bromfield where she spent her school years.
“This looks like my homeroom, and yes, here is the principal’s office. I can picture Mr. Dunlap standing right here with hands on his hips, watching out the window as we walked down the driveway. I played basketball, and the boys had a six-man football team. I saved my 1951 “Beacon” yearbook with all their signatures; there were 16 in my graduating class.”
A longtime resident of Englewood, New Jersey, Jane plans to have Roger’s memorial cleaned and the small missing plaque replaced.
“I love coming back,” she said. “My heart will always be here.”
For Jane, there is a lot to remember about her Harvard life: her happy childhood, her years at Bromfield, courting, and what John Turini did for their family. But there is lifelong heartache too, remembering the young brother who never came home.
Edward Tatten grew up in Harvard, but now lives in Sterling with his wife Linda, John Turini’s daughter. Tatten wrote this story after accompanying Jane Skillings Turini Boudrot on her recent visit to Harvard. Jane’s plan for a new plaque on the Cpl. Skillings memorial in Still River has already been carried out (see photo above).
