NAHANT — Coronavirus claimed Maurice C. Poulin only after the master sailor’s wish for how he spent his last weeks came true.
“He said he always wanted to be with the veterans,” his son, Edward Poulin, said.
The elder Poulin died on April 23 in West Roxbury Veterans Affairs Hospital with his son at his side wearing full protective gear. When his health began to decline, the Nahant resident moved from his home into Jesmond Nursing Home in Nahant.
Edward Poulin applied in 2019 to get his 97-year-old father admitted to the Chelsea Soldiers Home and Poulin was transferred to the veterans facility on March 12.
Coronavirus restrictions on nursing home access meant that Edward Poulin, his mother and siblings depended on online conservations to visit with their father and husband. Poulin’s worsening condition triggered his transfer to West Roxbury VA on Easter.
“He had a fever and they told me he tested positive,” Edward Poulin said.
Medical workers allowed Poulin to don full protective gear and visit his father. He used his phone to conduct video conversations between his father and his mother.
Poulin called his father’s death “part of the story of what we are going through.”
His father left a legacy drenched in adventure on the high sea where Maurice Poulin forged a reputation as a leader. A Lowell native, he joined the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps at the age of 16.
“There were no jobs and as the second of eight children, he needed to send money home to the family,” his son said.
He was 18 when he joined the U.S. Coast Guard and went to war. Poulin spent four years aboard the U.S.S. Leonard Wood, an attack troop transport. The ship took part in nine World War II amphibious assaults, bringing troops and tanks to North Africa for General George Patton’s army.
As U.S. troops poured ashore, Poulin used his French language skills to translate between military commanders and French colonial officials. The Leonard Wood and Poulin went on to the Pacific to land troops and equipment in the Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, Saipan, Palalu, and the Philippines.
Poulin reenlisted after the war and was assigned to a Coast Guard lightship where he spent a month on sea duty and a month off.
“It was a lonely detail and he learned to build ships in a bottle,” his son recalled.
Poulin forged a life in the Coast Guard, serving on a weather patrol vessel before receiving a promotion to oversee lifeboat stations, including the Nahant station.
He moved with his wife, Sylviane, to Nahant in 1960 and they raised their children — Edward, Maurice, Suzanne and their late daughter, Jeanne — in town.
He was promoted to master chief, commanding the 82-foot patrol boat Point Cypress out of Boston Harbor, and was called to patrol duty off the coast of Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.
He completed his career as licensing examiner at the Coast Guard Marine Inspection Office in Boston. According to his obituary, Poulin received numerous military service decorations, including the Navy Unit Combat Commendation Ribbon and U.S. Coast Guard Good Conduct Medal with one Silver Star.
Edward Poulin said his father stayed busy after his Coast Guard service. The Poulin family crisscrossed the country, towing a trailer and visiting national parks, and Poulin mentored town summer workers.
“He knew how to lead men,” his son said.
A Nahant resident and electrical contractor, Edward Poulin said he appreciates the care his father received at the end of his life.
“Everyone in the Chelsea Soldiers Home treated him well and with respect,” he said.
