The County in Wartime

The origins of Aroostook County are tied directly to military mobilization. In 1839, the county was created as Maine called up militia units to secure disputed borderlands during the Aroostook War, prompting troops along the Aroostook River to build Fort Fairfield to defend logging tracts from British incursions. That same year, the Fort Kent Blockhouse was constructed from hand-hewn cedar logs to guard the northern border; today it stands as a State Historic Site, National Historic Landmark, and museum, remaining the only surviving American fortification from that confrontation. When the American Civil War arrived, local citizens stepped forward in remarkable numbers. In Presque Isle, roughly 22 percent of the population—about half of all male residents—left to fight for the Union, leaving local women to manage 100- and 200-acre family farms. Houlton native Henry Clay Merriam organized a volunteer company for the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry and earned the Medal of Honor for an assault at Fort Blakely, Alabama, while Augustus Merrill of Lyndon (now Caribou) also earned the Medal of Honor for valor. These contributions are remembered today across the region, from the Sherman Civil War Monument dedicated on July 4, 1883, and the Caldwell Brothers Civil War Memorial honoring six local brothers on Church Street in Sherman, to Houlton's 1909 G.A.R. monument in Monument Park and Fairmount Cemetery's monument in Presque Isle, which local women funded in 1873.

Global conflict transformed the region into a vital hub during World War II. The federal government acquired Presque Isle's municipal airport in 1941 to support Lend-Lease deliveries to the United Kingdom, and the first troops arrived that September to live in tents and trailers. Because of its geographic proximity to Europe, Presque Isle Army Airfield became the headquarters for the North American Division of the Air Transport Command, sending more wartime transatlantic flights over northern routes than any other American airfield. Farther south, Camp Houlton was established at the Houlton airfield, housing German prisoners of war between 1944 and May 1946 who were paid to labor on local potato farms and in logging woods to ease regional manpower shortages. Individual service members also distinguished themselves abroad, including Perham native Edward C. Dahlgren, who received the Medal of Honor for rescuing an American platoon and capturing enemy soldiers in Oberhoffen, France.

The region's geographic closeness to Europe kept it on the frontline through the Cold War. In 1947, the U.S. military chose Limestone to build a major base because it was the closest continental point to Europe, with construction led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Operational in 1953 as Limestone Air Force Base, it was renamed in 1954 for Korean War Medal of Honor recipient Major Charles J. Loring Jr. In February 1953, Strategic Air Command activated the 42nd Bombardment Wing, Heavy, placing long-range B-36 and B-52 bombers on nuclear alert. Although recommendations from the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure process led Loring to close on September 30, 1994, this heritage remains palpable across the County. Visitors discovering military history in Aroostook County can explore the Loring Air Museum's B-52 artifacts and visit the base's sentry dog cemetery containing the graves of approximately 14 working dogs. In Presque Isle, Veterans Park displays a decommissioned bomber missile, while the Presque Isle Air Museum and Houlton's Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum display local wartime collections. Nearby, the Northern Maine Veterans' Memorial Cemetery in Caribou, dedicated in 2003 on land donated by John and Joyce Noble, provides a resting place for the area's service members.