Dorchester Times: Some Gave All: Remembering Dorchester's F.C. Green

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Some Gave All: Remembering Dorchester's F.C. Green

As Memorial Day nears, we remember the ultimate sacrifice made by DHS alum F.C. Green.

Like most Dorchester residents, our staff members recalled the general details -- that Green died in a military training accident in the early 1970s as a Navy pilot.

When we scanned the Dorchester School yearbooks, we found no recorded history of the incident -- just a memorial in Green's honor (pictured).

So we asked our hundreds of Facebook followers what they remembered. Several readers were helpful, particularly reader JR Wolfe.

We're passing along the information they provided so that Dorchester's hero -- Lt. F.C. Green -- and his ultimate sacrifice can be recalled by future generations.

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U.S. Navy Lt. (j.g.) Francis Clair Green II was born Nov. 8, 1945. He passed away March 9, 1970 in the South Atlantic Ocean when a wing fell off his aircraft during training.

He served aboard the USS Sangra La, which was stationed out of San Diego. He was the son of Francis Clair Green and Anna Sehnert of Dorchester, the former being Dorchester's long-time postmaster.

Green was a very popular student at Dorchester -- a star athlete, a top scholar, and editor of the school yearbook. He was a member of DHS' Class of 1963.

According to a Lincoln Star story from March 12, 1970, he went on to study and graduate from UNL, where he continued to forge his successful path.

He was a honor student, yell king, president of his fraternity, a representative of the UNL campus at national events, and a member of Navy ROTC.

Green was named outstanding senior midshipman while in the ROTC program. He was even named "most eligible bachelor" by the NU yearbook, and was an a national finalist for the Outstanding Collegiate Man Award.

A memorial service was held a few days later without Lt. Green's body, which was lost at sea.

This past March marked the 53rd anniversary of Lt. Green's death. Be sure to take time to remember this Dorchester hero. Think about the life that was; the life that could have been; and the sacrifice Lt. Green made to serve his country.

4 comments:

Terry G.May 31, 2022 at 3:14 PM
I was a midshipman 4th class in UNL NROTC when F.C. Green was battalion commander. He was already very professional but also very helpful to us freshman "pukes" Already a tremendous example of an officer and a gentleman. Didn't know the Dorchester connection til my first year teaching here in 75 76!
Terry G
Secondary Principal Teacher(ret)
CAPT USN. (ret)
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AnonymousJune 4, 2022 at 10:29 AM
Some gave all indeed. RIP, Lt. Green.
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Cory WJune 4, 2022 at 8:20 PM
I was able to track down some additional information from an OPNAV 5750-1.
"Air operations were conducted enroute Rio and at 1629, 9 March, an F-8H, Buno 147072, piloted by LTJG F. C. Green III crashed into the sea at latitude 08°02' N, longitude 49°38.5' W. An unsuccessful search was conducted by helicopter 44 and the pilot was declared lost. Memorial Services were held on 10 March for LTJG Green."
The boat was enroute Yankee Station for deployment. For those interested, Buno stands for Bureau Number and is similar to a cars Vin. Typically the air wing will conduct training prior to combat ops while the carrier is in transit.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."