When Paul Donahue visited the University of Southern Maine on a recent Thursday, he came to honor his father, 1st Lt. Louis A. Donahue — a World War I veteran, two-time Purple Heart recipient, and former resident of 59 Exeter St. on USM’s Portland campus. He was one of several family members who gathered for USM’s first Veterans Row Dedication Ceremony, an event that began, improbably, with a set of old tax documents.
A ceremony rooted in community and curiosity
On April 23, USM’s Military-Affiliated Student Hub (MASH) hosted a dedication ceremony to honor the veterans who once lived in the university’s Exeter Street houses. Plaques bearing each veteran’s name were presented to their children, grandchildren, and extended family members before being mounted inside each respective building. USM President Jacqueline Edmondson spoke at the ceremony, joined by congressional representatives and the veterans’ families from across Maine.
It all started when Nathanial Twombley, founder of the Memorial Muster Foundation and a work-study student at MASH, came across some old tax documents for 39 Exeter St. One detail stood out: the former resident had served in World War I.
“I researched that man ad nauseum,” Twombley said. When his own resources ran dry, staff at USM’s Osher Map Library helped him access records that unlocked the rest of the story. He kept digging — and kept finding more veterans. “The rest is history, as they say,” he added.
The research ultimately led him to found the Memorial Muster Foundation, an organization dedicated to ensuring veterans’ stories are preserved — starting with the six who had lived in USM’s Exeter Street houses.
Behind every plaque, a life fully lived
For Paul Donahue, the dedication was a long time coming. His father served in the 26th “Yankee” Division during WWI, suffering shrapnel wounds and a mustard gas attack before returning to Maine — where he ran for Congress, started a business, and raised a family.
“A lot of it was overlooked and forgotten about,” Donahue said. “It means a lot to have his memory preserved in this way.”
For Twombley, stories like Donahue’s are what drive the work.
“They witnessed some of the most horrific events in history — the World Wars, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression,” said Twombley. “All of these things could have served to harden their hearts. But in many instances, it made them the opposite. They fought hard, but they loved harder.”
For Twombley, Veterans Row is just the beginning. Maine has one of the highest veteran populations per capita in the country, he noted, and USM’s Exeter Street houses are proof of how much history can be hiding in plain sight.
“Some of their stories will make you cry and others will make you laugh,” Twombley said. “You get to a point where you feel like they are your own family. That’s one of my missions — to really bring history to life.”
With plaques now mounted inside each Exeter Street building, the veterans who once lived there have found a permanent place in USM’s history.