History of Keene

In 1735, colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher granted lots in the township of "Upper Ashuelot" to 63 settlers.
Settled after 1736 on Equivalent Lands, it was intended to be a fort town protecting the Province of Massachusetts Bay from the French
and their Native allies during the French and Indian Wars, the North American front of the Seven Years' War.
When the boundary between the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire colonies was fixed in 1741, Upper Ashuelot became part of New Hampshire,
although Massachusetts continued supporting the area for its own protection.

In 1747, during King George's War, the village was attacked and burned by Natives. Colonists fled to safety, but would return to rebuild in 1749.
It was regranted to its inhabitants in 1753 by Governor Benning Wentworth, who renamed it "Keene" after Sir Benjamin Keene,
English minister to Spain and a West Indies trader.
Located at the center of Cheshire County, Keene was designated as the county seat in 1769.
Land was set off for the towns of Sullivan and Roxbury, although Keene would annex 154 acres from Swanzey.

City of Keene - City of Keene Information

Cemeteries in Keene - Search the Eleven cemeteries in Keene, NH

World War II U.S. Army - Private Frederick C. Barcome - 18 years old - 36th Infantry Division, 143rd Infantry Regiment "Killed in Action" 9 Feb. 1944 - Italy
U.S. Army - PFC Roger Frank Beaudoin - 28 years old - Trans. Corps - "Line of Duty" 25 May 1944 - result of a non-battle related incident.
U.S. Army - Pvt. Julius Bogumiloff - 28 years old - 1st Infantry Division, 7th Bn "Killed in Action" 26 Feb. 1945 - in Germany
U.S.Army - PFC Chester I. Bosworth, Jr. - 22 years old - 101st Airborne Division, 501st Parachute Infantry "Died of Wounds " 22 Jan. 1945
he died of wounds received in action.
U.S. Army - PFC Albert J. Bradbury - 20 years old - 1st Infantry Division, 7th F.A. battalion "Died of Wounds" 1 August 1944
he died of wounds received in action during the war.
U.S. Air Force - Staff/Sergeant Ashton Carter - 23 years old - 416 Bomber Group, 669th Bomber Squadron "Killed in Action" 18 March 1945
U.S. Marines - Private Theodore Cobb - 28 years old - 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Regiment "Killed in Action" 20 March 1945 - at Iwo Jima -
U.S. Army - PFC Carmine J. Dintino - 21 years old - 90th Infantry Division, 357th Infantry Regiment - "Killed in Action" 10 June 1944 - France
U.S. Army - Pvt. Cornelius C. Donovan - 34 years old - U.S. Army "Line of Duty" 8 June 1943 - he was killed in a motor vehicle accident in Tennessee during the war.
U.S. Army - PFC John L. Dounovant - 21 years old - 19th Cavalry Recon Squadron "Killed in Action" 1 April 1945 - Germany
U.S. Marines - Assistant Cook Harold J. Ellis - 22 years old "Missing in Action" 20 Feb. 1945 - Iwo Jima, Ogasawara-shichō, Tokyo, Japan
U.S. Army - PFC William A. Gauron - 31 years old - 34th Infantry Division, 135th Infantry Regiment "Killed in Action" 22 Nov. 1944 - Italy -
buried in Florence American Cemetery, Italy
U.S. Air Force - Pvt. Roland C. Getty - 20 years old - Base Service Group "Line of Duty" 17 Nov. 1944 - Pacific or India - died of a non-battle related incident.
U.S. Army - Pvt. Donald Austin Gorges - 21 years old - 4th Infantry Division, 22nd Inf. - "Killed in Action" 25 June 1944 - Mont Ebourg, France
U.S. Army - PFC Alfred H. Guyette - 21 years old - Anti-Aircraft Regiment "Line of Duty" 7 Dec. 1941 - died while training in Florida
U.S. Air Force - Staff Sergeant Martin E. Guyette - 19 years old - 452nd Bomber Group, 731st Bomber Squadron "Killed in Action" 28 July 1944 -
Martin served on B-17G - his B-17G collided with another B-17G hitting their rear section. Both B-17's crashed near Merseburg, Germany
U.S. Army - Pvt. Arthur A. Hamel - 21 years old - 1st Infantry Division, 18th Infantry Regiment "Killed in Action" 2 March 1945 - Germany
buried in Henri - Chapelle, Arrondissement de Verviers, Liège, Belgium
U.S. Army - Put. Raymond Victor Holland - 29 years old - 5th Infantry Division, 10th Infantry Regiment "Killed in Action" 8 Nov. 1944, France
U.S. Army - Sergeant Roger L. Jean - 28 years old - U.S. Army "Killed in Action" 15 Jan. 1945 -
UU.S. Army - Corporal Robert L. Joyal - 24 years old - 168th Chemical Warfare "Killed in Action" 9 Apr. 1945 - Germany
U.S. Army - PFC Chester L. Kingsbury - age 21 - 26th Infantry Division, 101 Infantry "Killed in Action" 13 Nov. 1944, Saint-Lô, France
U.S. Army - PFC Leo A. Mackey - 36 years old - 557th Field Artillery BN "Died of Injuries" 17 April 1945 - Germany
U.S. Air Force - Corporal James C. Madison - 29 years old - U.S. Air Force "Line of Duty" 1 Nov. 1944 - a non-battle aircraft crash in France.
U.S. Marines - Sergeant Paul L. Massicotte - 23 years old - 3rd Marine Division, 21st Marine Regiment "Killed in Action" 24 Feb. 1945, Iwo Jima
U.S. Army - Pvt. George B. McAdams - 27 years old - 1st Infantry Division, 16th Infantry Regiment "Killed in Action" 12 July 1943 - Italy
U.S. Army - PFC Kenneth P. McDowell - 23 years old - 82nd AirBorne Division, 504 Parachute Infantry "Killed in Action" in Belgium 1 Jan. 1945
buried in Henri-Chapelle, Arrondissement de Verviers, Liege, Belgium
U.S. Army - PFC Cecil A. Merrifield - 26 years old - 99th Infantry Division, 395th Infantry Regiment "Killed in Action " in Europe 15 Mar. 1945
buried in Henri-Chapelle, Arrondissement de Verviers, Liege, Belgium
US Army - Corporal Francis George Moran - 30 years old - 45th Infantry Division, 157th Infantry Regiment"Killed in Action" in Italy 15 Dec. 1943
U.S. Navy - QM3 Phillip D. Parady - 21 years old - U.S.S. Pompano (Submarine) "Missing in Action" 17 September 1943
U.S.S. Pompano left Midway on August 20, 1943, never heard from again;
believed sunk by an air attack off the Aomori Prefecture near Shiriya Zaki.
U.S. Marines - Pvt. Norman S. Parker - 19 years old - 1st Marine Division, 7th Marine Regiment "Killed in Action" 15 Oct. 1942 - at Guadalcanal
U.S. Navy - Ensign John F. Ryder - PBY-5A Catalina #8428 "Died While POW" 22 Nov. 1943 - his ship was destroyed
by the Japs, taken prisoner, died at Rabaul POW Camp
U.S. Army/Air Force - Corporal George Adam Roder - 27 years old "Killed in Action" 12 Mar. 1945
in an airplane crash near the Philippines.
U.S. Army - Captain William H. Simpson - 45 years old - U.S. Army "Line of Duty" 1945 - how and where unknown.
U.S. Army - Staff/Sergeant Robert H. Slade - 28 years old - 1st Armored Division, 81st Cav. Recon "Killed in Action" in Italy, 22 April 1945.
U.S. Air Force - Corporal Frederick A. Stearns - 20 years old - 19th Bomber Group, 28th Bomber Squadron "EXECUTED WHILE POW" On August 15, 1945,
shortly after the Japanese Government's surrendered to end the waar, Japanese military personnel deliberately killed 33 American airmen at
Fukuoka, Japan including fifteen who were beheaded. Corporal Frederick Stearns was one of the 33 airmen "Executed"
U.S. Navy - Radioman3C George F. Toomey - 19 years old - U.S.S. Underhill "Missing In Action" 24 July 1945
sinking in a suicide attack by a Japanese Kaiten manned torpedo, 112 U.S. Navy sailors perished in the attack.
U.S. Army - PFC Richard T. Tuttle - 20 years old - 197th Artillery Bn "Line of Duty " 27 June 1945
result of a non-battle related incident.
U.S. Air Force - Major Alpheus B. White - 47 years old - U.S. Air Force "Killed in Action" in 1944 - awarded the Purple Heart.
U.S. Navy - Ship's Cook3C Richard W. Wyubrow - 22 years old - U.S.S. Escolar (SS-294)"Missing in Action" 17 Oct. 1944
U.S.S. Escolar was probably mined in the Yellow Sea.
US Army - PFC Robert Weeks - 29 years old - 77th Infantry Division, 307th Infantry Regiment "Killed in Action" 3 Apr. 1943 in Okinawa

Vietnam War U.S. Air Force - Lieutenant Colonel Richard Owen Ganley - 29 years old - 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron "Killed in Action" 24 Nov. 1969
he was a member of the crew of a Lockheed Hercules Transport Aircraft (C-130A) on an operational mission near Ban Bac, Savannakhet
Province, Laos when the aircraft was struck several timed by 37mm anti-aircraft fire, burst into flames and crashed to the ground.
U.S. Marines - Staff Sergeant Kenneth Robert Hall - 30 years old - 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Recon Bn, "Killed in Action"
24 April 1966 - Thừa Thiên-Huế, Vietnam
U.S. Army- Warrant Officer William Michael Miller - 21 years old - 1st Aviation, 12th Ave Group "Killed in Action"
15 September 1968 - Hua Nghia, Vietnam
U.S. Marines - Lance Corporal Harold Kenneth Stevens, Jr. - 22 years old 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Engineer Bn, Co. A "Killed in Action"
8 June 1965, Quang Nam, Vietnam
U.S. Army- 2nd Lieutenant Michael Bernard Sweeney - 21 years old - Army Ranger, 9th Infantry Division, 47th Infantry, Co. E "Killed in Action"
24 December 1967 - Dinh Tuong, Vietnam

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Last Edited 5 Jan. 2024