Eugene Edmond Chouiniere, 1923-1942. In Memoriam

 This month, November 2021, will mark the 79th year since the aircraft carrying Eugene and 7 other RAF airmen died on a bombing mission.

Eugene, 10 years old

Eugene Edmond Chouiniere was only 19 years old when he died along with 7 other airmen in an Avro Lancaster, R5695EM-C, on a Royal Air Force (RAF) bombing mission over Germany during WW2. The crew was comprised of 3 Brits, 2 Canadians and 3 Americans. Official letters to the families of the crew from the RAF stated their aircraft was “lost without a trace”. Now historians think they know where the aircraft, Lancaster R5695EM-C, rests 80 years after it went down.

Eugene was from a large Franco-American family from the Iberville, Quebec area. From 1870 through the 1890s, Eugene’s grandfather moved back and forth from Cohoes, New York to North Adams, Massachusetts and Iberville, Quebec. Eugene’s parents, Alfred Chouiniere and Rose Bonneau, married in St. Joseph’s Church, Cohoes, New York on February 17th, 1895. They settled in rural Waterford where Eugene was born on April 11th, 1923. He was the youngest of the 14 children who lived beyond infancy. When Eugene's father died he was only 5 years old. When his mother died, he was 15 and his older siblings took responsibility for his welfare during his adolescence. In the 1940 US census, he is living with his oldest sister, her husband and two daughters, Elizabeth and Lea, at 8 Lansing Lane in Cohoes. Lea, his niece, was 6 months younger than Eugene and she never lost her memories of her uncle who was also her childhood playmate. They hunted, fished and roamed the farms, fields and woods outside Cohoes and Waterford. Lea recalled that Eugene went to an US service recruiter in 1941 to join. The recruiter told Eugene to finish high school and reapply. That wasn’t good enough for Eugene. According to Lea, he soon got the idea to join Canadian forces and “jumped on the train to Montreal” a few days after his 18th birthday. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). The RCAF interviewer noted he was “rather young, immature and lacking in experience”. He was also “sincere, willing and determined to fly and fight” and “should improve with training”.

Soon Eugene was training at the Mountain View British Commonwealth Air Training Station in Ontario, now known as Canadian Forces Detachment Mountain View. His training included wireless operator and air gunner. After his training and before he was sent to England, he visited the families of his brothers and sisters in Waterford and Cohoes. Eugene, handsome in his RCAF uniform, was showered with his family’s attention; many photographs of Eugene and his family together were taken in the front yard. It would be the last time the Chouiniere family saw their little brother. In England, there was more training and he soon started flying missions in RAF squadron 207 based at the Langar Airfield outside Nottingham, England. On the night of November 25, 1942 five Avro Lancasters, each with a crew of 7 or 8, took off for five separate locations over Germany. Three safely returned, one crashed returning to the airfield in England. The aircraft with Eugene Chouiniere (USA), Alfred Joseph Parkyn the pilot (USA), William John Vandervoort (Canada), James McGregor Allan (Canada), Jack Slater (England), Windsor Webb (England), James Guichard (USA), John James Gallimore (England) was lost without a trace. All eight crew members are memorialized at the Air Force Memorial at Runnymede.

In 2020, a group of local, independent historians believed they solved the mystery of R5695EM-C. Records from a German fighter pilot, Ernst Heesen, who conducted an air attack on the same night, likely misidentified the Lancaster aircraft he shot down over the North Sea for an B-24 Liberator. They believe the misidentification misled earlier researchers who continued to mark the aircraft and crew as “lost without a trace”.

November 25th, 2022 will mark the 80th anniversary of the night the 8 crewmembers lost their lives and a memorial service is being planned for next year. The location for the service has not yet been determined. It is believed Eugene Chouiniere and his crewmates left no children. Only one member, John Gallimore, left a bride of eleven months in England. She never remarried. A search is underway to find living nieces and nephews of the crew and their children. If you are related to the Chouiniere Family of Waterford and Cohoes or know someone who is connected, please contact Mary Beth Mylott at FrancoAmericanGravy@gmail.com. She has more information about Eugene Chouiniere and the plans for a ceremony in 2022.

Update on 'Lost Without A Trace' The crew of Avro Lancaster R5695EM-C on the night of November 25th, 1942

In 2010 I met Lea Langlais of Cohoes, NY who lovingly told me about her uncle and childhood playmate, Eugene Edward Chouiniere, who died while serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW2.  Afterwards, I wrote about him and Lea's steadfast devotion to keeping his memory alive.   Lea died in 2012 but the memory of young Chouiniere and the other crew members of the Avro Lancaster R5695EM-C lives on.  Lea had photographs of five crew members which lead me to believe the aircraft had a crew of five.  I will never know why Lea had photos of the 3 Americans and 2 Canadians crew members but not the 3 English crew.  However, in the past year thanks to a dedicated group of people in England known as the "The Field Detectives" from the Goadby Marwood History Group, I have come to understand more about the aircraft and airmen of R5695EM-C.  The eight airmen were:

An effort is underway to find as many family members of the crew across North America and the UK as possible.  If you are a family member or a friend reading this post, please contact FrancoAmericanGravy@gmail.com or check our Facebook group, Families of Avro Lancaster R5695EM-C, and request to join the group.  A nephew of Alfred Parkyn, the pilot of R5695EM-C, and the team of 'The Field Detectives' are working tirelessly to organize a memorial service to mark the 80th anniversary of this tragic event.  It is an honor to bring families together to remember these men and the sacrifice they made during WW2.  In the following posts and coming weeks, I hope to share a little bit about each crew member with you, dear reader.  Meanwhile, family member and retired Unites States Marine Corp pilot, Michael Parkyn, is writing a history of the crew and aircraft that he hopes will be available in the anniversary year. 

James McGregor Allen,          1918-1942, 24 years old, Canada

Eugene Edward Chouiniere,   1923-1942, 19 years old, USA

John James Gallimore,            1916-1942, 26 years old, England

James Louis Guichard,            1904-1942, 38 years old, USA

Alfred Joseph Parkyn,             1915-1942, 27 years old, USA

Jack Slater,                              1921-1942, 21 years old, England

William John Vandervoort,     1916-1942, 26 years old, Canada

Windsor Francis R. Webb,      1924-1942, 18 years old, England

As I establish contact with the families of these men, it has greatly moved me to learn how parents and siblings struggled throughout their entire lives never knowing where their son, their brother and, for the wife of John James Gallimore, her husband, met death.  Their consolation was the knowledge these men gave their lives protecting England, the people living in England and in the parts of Europe overpowered by the Nazi war machine.  The crew of R5695EM-C, along with thousands of other airmen and women never recovered, are memorialized at The Air Forces Memorial Runnymede, in Surrey, England and in the Airmen Memorial Database here.

Remembering "Uncle Al" Rivet and "Joe" Rivet, 1919-2002

 

In New York he was known as Al to everyone.

Like almost every French Canadian son, he was baptized with the standard first name of Joseph but never called by that name in school or the parish.  His father, his sister, his brother and friends all called him "Al".

 

Al waterskiing at Saratoga Lake NY, circa 1962, while visiting from California

Al visiting Montauk Lighthouse, Long Island, NY

In California he was "Joe" to everyone.

In southern California there was a new life, a new family and a new name.

At Laguna Beach

Springtime in Quebec Destination: Cabane à Sucre in Saint Alexis, Lanaudiere

Update....It is midwinter in upstate New York and we are expecting another great snowfall today. There's more weeks of CoVID pandemic isolation.  The northern border remains closed to casual travel from New York into Quebec.  The only thing left to do is read by the fireside and dream of future road trips.  It makes me recall an April road trip in Quebec with a great opportunity to visit a legendary sugar shack and indulge in a flood of maple flavored products! at Cabane Osias.