Raymond J. Boughton

World War II

Ray Boughton was born on September 29, 1923, in Odebolt, IA to Raymond R. and Josephine (Fixen). One of his sisters was Roberta (Bobbye) Bruggeman. The family moved to Carroll in 1936. On October 15, 1941, Ray married Esther Heuton of Glidden, IA in Maryville, MO. The couple was living in Glidden when World War II started.

Ray enlisted in the US Navy on December 10, 1942, in Des Moines, IA. He was assigned serial number 621-68-81. He was sent to boot camp at Camp Peary near Williamsburg, VA. This base had been established as a training base for the Navy’s Construction Battalions (Seabees). By February, 1943, he remained at this base and had been promoted to S2c.

By January, 1944, he had been transferred to Port Hueneme, CA (in Ventura County) which was the Naval Construction Battalion Center on the West Coast. This base did not only continue training the wide-ranging skills of the Seabees but also served to support advanced bases in the Pacific.

On May 5, 1944. Ray was discharged from the US Navy and his 1949 bonus application indicates he was the subject of a court martial. This process took some time to resolve but, on July 20, 1945, he re-enlisted in the US Navy. It appears he spent the remainder of his time in the service at the Naval Training Center at San Diego, CA and Camp Shoemaker near Dublin, CA. Camp Shoemaker was the point of entry for Seabee units returning from the Pacific. The war ended in August, 1945, and Ray was honorably discharged from the US Navy on March 11, 1946.

Ray and his wife were divorced on October 31, 1946, and Ray married Ruth Ann Loneman in 1947. They initially settled in Carroll but moved to Omaha by 1950. He lived the remainder of his life in Omaha and died there on February 18, 1995 at age 71. He is buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Templeton.