Remembering the crew of R5695-EMC and ALFRED JOSEPH PARKYN

BORN NOVEMBER 6, 1915

PALISADES, NEW JERSEY, USA 

27 YEARS OLD

Alfred J. Parkyn was the beloved son of an immigrant carpenter and his Parisian wife. Coming of age during the Great Depression, Alfred enjoyed many of the American Dream’s promises. He competed in high school football and track; he counted swimming, skiing, and horseback riding among his activities as well. Proud parents photographed the handsome, well-dressed young man astride a beautiful English-saddled mare. In the photograph, he smiles confidently. His riding boots shine.

Alfred landed a job with the United States Lines, crewing on the SS Leviathan between his junior and senior years of high school. Working in the engine rooms of SS Leviathan and later the SS President Roosevelt, Alfred saw England, France, and Germany during peacetime. He would later see many of these countries from the air, at night, under fire.

If Alfred and the first American Parkyns thought they’d escaped the harsher side of life when they put London’s Mile End behind them, they were wrong. Alfred saw the impact on the family of his uncle’s Edward’s death in France at the end of the First World War. Memories of Edward must surely have faded in young Alfred’s memory by the time Edward became the namesake of his town’s American Legion post. Tragedy didn’t end with the end of war. Alfred lost his 11-year-old brother during Alfred’s senior year in high school. Two years later, Alfred’s 50-year-old father passed away. The successive losses left Alfred’s mourning mother and sisters reeling but undoubtedly grateful for his stabilizing presence in the family. By 1940, Alfred’s life was on a course that kept him close to home. At 26 years of age, Alfred had a steady but menial job in the Bronx. His elder sister had married, leaving Alfred at home with his mother and 13-year-old sister Renee, who adored the big brother she knew as Allie. Over the course of 30 years, the Parkyn family’s exuberance and success had, through family tragedy and economic disaster, given way to a grittier determination to persevere together.

Alfred harbored dreams of becoming a pilot, but he was both too old and lacked the bachelor’s degree required for military pilot programs. Opportunities in civil aviation were scarce, and flight training wasn’t cheap. With his spare income, Alfred had managed to accumulate a meager eight hours of flight time and was making payments on a ground school course he’d taken.

At some time during the summer of 1940, Alfred must have come across one of the recruiting advertisements posted at municipal airports by the Clayton Knight Committee. Replete with images of Spitfire fighter planes, the flyers sought men for the Royal Canadian Air Force, and steered applicants to Knight’s shadow organization at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The Waldorf was on Alfred’s route home from work, but Alfred’s workday clothes would not have been in keeping with the hotel’s splendor; he must have made a trip from home, in his best clothes, when he applied.

And he did apply. His move must have concerned family elders, who would have numbered themselves among America’s isolationist population after Uncle Edward’s death. Without a steady income or husband, his mother must have found Alfred’s decision to be alarming.

Winning his wings in November 1940, Alfred flew home for a brief visit. Once in England, he wasted no time in connecting with family in Surrey, which became his favorite destination during leave periods. He wrote dutifully to his mother and sister, sending photos of “his” room above a Surrey shop, and the Earl Beatty Pub, where he enjoyed a pint now and then.

Alfred must have seemed brash and outspoken to his British squadron mates, as many Americans did. He was fond of them, describing them in a 1942 interview as “hard to get next to, sometimes,” but noted “they have horse sense. These guys know their racket.” Little memory exists of Alfred’s relationships with his fellow aviators – of the 400-plus men he could have met while flying with 207 Squadron, half were dead within a year of his final mission. Bomber Command’s low attrition – 3 percent – equated to certain death for aircrew within 34 missions.

Mere months after arriving at his bomber squadron, Alfred failed to return from a mission. His death was the fourth tragedy to strike the Parkyn’s in 20 years. After the war’s end, those surviving family members worried about work and the future. They moved apart to the corners of the United States leaving Alfred’s fading story behind them.

Alfred’s sisters never got over their sense of loss. Years later, the family children would remember his sisters, Gladys and Renee, speaking of their beloved brother "Allie" still haunted by the vague nature of his fate – missing, presumed dead, with no known grave.

 

Remembering the crew of R5695-EMC and JAMES LOUIS GUICHARD

BORN AUGUST 21, 1921

DIED NOVEMBER 22, 1942 ON A BOMBING MISSION TO GERMANY

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN, USA

38 YEARS OLD

James L. Guichard, born 21 August 1904 at Pinconning Bay, Michigan, was the oldest of the R5695C crew. On his Royal Canadian Air Force attestation application, James wrote his year of birth as 1909 making him five years younger than his real age! The enlisting officer, thinking James was 31, noted the applicant was at the edge of the cut off for age. James never let it be known he was really thirty-six. He was the son of George Louis Guichard, a Presbyterian minister, and Carolyn Mae Henderson. He had three older sisters, Melite, Maude, and Naomi and one younger brother, Charles Edward. Before enlisting, James graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania 1927-1931 with a major in Philosophy. Returning home, he entered the insurance business working for Aetna Life & Casualty in Detroit. His sports were basketball and (American) football.

On his Royal Canadian Air Force application, he wrote “Due to the fact the US is not at war I wish that my making this application be kept confidential.”  The USA threatened grave consequences for men joining the Canadian forces. Despite this, James enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in Windsor, Ontario on 11 January 1941, joining 9,000 other Americans who joined the RCAF. He was sent to Air Observers School where he achieved “above average” reviews. In remarks, he was noted to have “very wide business experience” and a “very well-paying position.”  The description continued “he’s a very serious-minded person, absolutely dependable, very anxious to get overseas. Frank, neat. A really outstanding man who is commission material.”

James indicated that his fiancée, Helene C. Stieler of Detroit, was the beneficiary of his service estates.

Remembering the crew of R5695-EMC and JACK SLATER

 BORN APRIL 1921

DIED NOVEMBER 22, 1942 ON A BOMBING MISSION TO GERMANY

HYDE, CHESHIRE, ENGLAND

21 YEARS OLD

Little information is known about Jack Slater. His parents were William Slater and Elizabeth Radcliffe. He had an older brother, Harry, and a sister, Joyce.

In a group service photo, Jack stands in the third row back and on the extreme right with his hands behind his back. He stands slightly apart from the other airmen. Jack Slater, an air gunner, perished young and without the opportunity to leave his mark on the world he helped save from Nazi terror. In his twenty-one years, Jack’s deeds and dedication to duty impacted the world in ways he would never have known.

Jack, like so many other young men and woman without descendants and large families, may be overlooked in the annals of time and the genealogical records in paper archives. It is fitting that now, eighty years after his sacrifice, and in the years to come, Jack be remembered by the family of man and citizens of free nations for his extreme sacrifice.

Remembering the crew of R5695EM-C and WILLIAM JOHN VANDERVOORT

 BORN APRIL 17, 1916

DIED NOVEMBER 22, 1942 ON A BOMBING MISSION TO GERMANY

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

26 YEARS OLD

William J. Vandervoort, was born on April 17, 1916, the youngest child of Emma and Ernest Vandervoort, in Vancouver, British Columbia. William and his siblings, Harold, Walter, and Margaret were raised at 2596 Cornwall Street, Vancouver where William attended nearby Kitsilano Secondary School from 1928 to 1934. He is memorialized in a plaque at the school. In 1935, after his secondary education, William was employed by Davidson & Company, where he was a floor trader on the Vancouver stock exchange. He played football with the Meralomas and the Knights of Columbus. On his application to the RCAF, he listed “Canadian Football, baseball, tennis, golf extensively – all others occasionally.” He also listed hunting, hiking, and skiing as his hobbies. In family photos, he appears handsome, athletic, and very fashionable.

William enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force on August 2,1940 and was promoted to Flight Sargent on July 1st, 1942. Later that month he was assigned to Squadron 207. He wrote home after the October 17th, 1942 Le Creusot Raid when, as bomb aimer, he was positioned in the nose of the aircraft. His father retold his son’s encounter to the local newspaper:

“Van” Vandervoort of Vancouver Breweries tells a good one about his son. “Van” was a pretty nifty pheasant shooter in his day but apparently his son has him beaten. The boy was in the “nose of a kite” (Lancaster) going over France and suddenly he was stunned by something hitting him on the chest. “I thought sure I was dead. It turned out to be a pheasant. We were doing more than 200 miles an hour at the time. It was splattered all over my compartment, the biggest piece being a leg. Boy, such a mess!”

Among his possessions listed were “skating boots with skates,” a New Testament, a diary, 2 packs of playing cards, 1 silk tie, 1 watch with broken glass, 2 pullovers and 30 socks.

Remembering the crew of R5695EM-C and EUGENE EDWARD CHOUINIERE

 BORN APRIL 11, 1923

DIED NOVEMBER 22, 1942 ON A BOMBING MISSION TO GERMANY

HALFMOON, SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK and COHOES, ALBANY COUNTY, NEW YORK

19 YEARS OLD

Eugene E. Chouiniere was from a large Franco-American family in upstate New York. Eugene’s parents, Alfred Chouiniere and Rose Bonneau, married in Cohoes, New York in February 1895 and farmed in rural Waterford where Eugene was born on April 11th, 1923. He was the youngest of 13 children. When his father died, Eugene was 5 years old and 15 when his mother died. His older siblings, especially his oldest sister Rose, took responsibility for his welfare. In 1940, Eugene was living on Lansing Lane in Cohoes with Rose, her husband, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Lea. Lea always remembered spending time with the companion of her teen years who was also her uncle. They hunted in the fields and fished in streams all summer long.

When Eugene attempted to join the US armed forces the recruiter told him to first finish high school and then reapply. Greatly disappointed, Eugene waited until a few days after his 18th birthday and “jumped on the train to Montreal” and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. 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.”

After his training in Canada and before he was sent to England, Eugene took leave to visit his siblings back in upstate New York. Handsome in his RCAF uniform, Eugene was showered with his family’s attention - many photographs were taken. This would be the last time the Chouiniere family saw their little brother. In England, after more training, Eugene became an air gunner flying missions in RAF Squadron 207 based at the Langar Airfield near Nottingham, England. After the July 31st, 1942, raid on Düsseldorf, Germany, Eugene was interviewed by several war correspondents. The story was published in The San Francisco Examiner on August 2nd with the headline “DÜSSELDORF RAID THRILLS U.S. FLYER”. Eugene was quoted: “It was one of the best shows I have ever seen. When we left there was one tremendous fire keeping high and visible from the Dutch coast.” Another correspondent described Eugene as “freckle-faced with steel- rimmed glasses and a mild manner.” He was really a small-town boy who took to the mission with dedication and purpose. Eugene completed 13 missions in 1942 while in the RAF Bomber Command.

Remembering the Crew of Lancaster R5695EM-C and WINDSOR FRANCIS RICHARD WEBB

BORN MARCH 26, 1924

DIED NOVEMBER 22, 1942 ON A BOMBING MISSION TO GERMANY

PETERBOROUGH, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND

18 YEARS OLD

                           

Windsor was born in Peterborough on 26^th of March 1924, the son of Leslie William Webb and Florence Lily neé Harrison, who married in 1921 in Peterborough. The Webb family had a long tradition of working on the railways, his grandfather being a station master in Cambridgeshire and his uncle, Cecil Francis Webb born 1899, a goods clerk. However, his father, born 1898, initially went into banking and later became involved in the management of his wife’s family advertising business. Based on family photos and the private schooling provided for Windsor, the family appears to have been well off for the 1930s and 1940s. His father served as a Special Constable in the police force during WWI, which may well have influenced Windsor’s choice of career in joining the Berkshire police force on leaving school. Any significant military connection came from his uncle, Cecil Francis Webb, who joined the Norfolk Regiment of the British army in 1914 when he was underage and served on the western front for the entire conflict. After WW1, in 1920, he joined the Black & Tans and fought in the Irish war of independence. He refused to discuss any details of either conflict for the rest of his life. In WW2 Cecil was too old to serve in the army and served as a Special Constable in the police force.

Windsor was educated privately by Katherine and Constance Back at their school in Lincoln Road, Peterborough before being admitted to The King’s School in 1933. At King’s, Windsor was in the Lion Patrol of the Scouts. On Speech Day in 1936 he received a School prize for Manual Work and Drawing. He left King’s in March 1937. After continuing his education at Stamford School, he joined the Berkshire Constabulary. At that time, the minimum age for admittance as a Police officer was nineteen. Windsor was younger and probably worked as a civilian clerk.

There are memorials to Windsor at The King’s School, Stamford School, and Berkshire Constabulary, as well as at Peterborough Cathedral.

Windsor’s cousin, Norman William Webb (born 1929), recalls the occasional visit to see Windsor and remembers that Windsor played the drums and had a drum kit in his bedroom. Norman was too young to serve in WW2 but did his National Service for 2 years as an RAF flight mechanic, commencing in 1947, initially working on Rolls Royce merlin engines that powered the Lancasters and Spitfires and later early jet engines.

Norman recalls the immense grief and sadness in the family at Windsor’s unexplained loss. Looking for some form of closure, the family discussed a theory that perhaps the Lancaster had been damaged and shot down by friendly fire when returning home, mistaken for a German bomber.

Windsor’s younger sister, Pamela, born in 1931, married William Pugh in 1951 and they had 3 children. Windsor had 2 aunts - Aunt Florence Nellie on the paternal side and Aunt Dorothy Harrison on his maternal.

Windsor joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in February 1942, service number 1320645 and trained as an air gunner. He was assigned to 207 Squadron in August 1942.

Remembering the Crew of Lancaster R5695EM-C and JOHN JAMES GALLIMORE

BORN MARCH 21, 1916

DIED NOVEMBER 22, 1942 ON A BOMBING MISSION TO GERMANY

DENTON, MANCHESTER, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND

26 YEARS OLD

John James Gallimore, “Jack,” was born on 21 March 1916 in Seymour Street, Denton, Manchester, Lancashire, England to John Henry Gallimore and Alice Walker. He was the oldest of 6 children. His only brother, Albert Edward (Ted), also served in WW2. He was always remembered by his four sisters, Elsie, Beatrice, Marian, and Enid. All the Gallimore children attended Denton Central school and the children were good scholars. They attended Christ Church in Denton where Jack joined the Boy Scouts. After Jack was lost, Beatrice Gallimore spent many hours passing memories of “Uncle Jack” to her children often recalling the special sense of humour he used with his sisters. Beatrice remembered an occasion during rationing when each person was only allowed 2 ounces of butter each week. Jack, beloved brother, keenly wanted a crumpet with butter filling the spongy holes. His loving family gave in with a wink and a smile. Everyone in the family gave up their share for Jack to fill the crumpet craters! When the war started Jack decided he wanted to join the RAF. He enrolled and was based in Lincolnshire where he met and married Dora Farmer in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire on Valentine’s Day 1942. Jack’s family remembered that when she learned she had lost Jack, Dora was grief stricken and heartbroken. When she finally remarried more than ten years later, she brought her fiancé to meet Jack’s parents to get their permission. Jack was the only crew member known to have married. The last time Jack was home on leave, Beatrice remembered she wanted to give him ‘half a crown,” her usual gift whenever Jack visited home and returned to the airbase. Beatrice had saved her money and was prepared to give it to Jack when he was ready to leave but one of her older sisters quickly asked her if she had half a crown. Beatrice told her she did, but it was for Jack. The sister convinced the younger Beatrice that she needed the money so Beatrice gave it over to her sister who promptly gave it to Jack. Poor Beatrice was upset, especially because it was the last time she ever saw her brother. 7 When Jack and the crew were reported missing, Jack’s family – just like all other families - spent endless hours writing to various government departments to learn what had happened to their son, their brother, and their husband with no resolution. Even after Jack’s mother died, the family carried on searching. Jack was christened and confirmed into the Church of England. He made a promise to his mother that wherever he was on Easter Sunday & Christmas Day, he would take communion honoring her wishes.

James Gallimore and his bride, Dora Farmer

Remembering the Crew of Lancaster R5695EM-C and JAMES MCGREGOR ALLAN

BORN FEBRUARY 16, 1918

DIED NOVEMBER 22, 1942 ON A BOMBING MISSION TO GERMANY

MIMICO, ONTARIO, CANADA

24 YEARS OLD

James McGregor Allan, a British citizen, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and emigrated to Canada with his father and mother in 1922 when he was 4 years old. They settled in Mimico, a neighborhood in the southwest of Toronto, where James attended public schools. Two sisters were born in Ontario, Gertrude, and Gail. In 1934 after two years of high school, James was employed at Campbell’s Soups “working on filling machines”. He left for a better job as a warehouse worker at Roofers Supply Company from 1939-1940. His hobby was building model planes and his best sports were hockey and swimming although he occasionally boxed, played lacrosse and baseball. He was a reserve Royal Canadian Engineer.

His Royal Canadian Air Force interviewer described him as “Splendid type of chap but lacks education. He is willing to work hard, very keen and alert, good appearance, determined to make the grade and should develop under training into good gunner material.” He was also “confident, mature, and pleasant.” After completing Air Training, it was remarked James was “Neat and mannerly, seems quite levelheaded. Has worked hard on course.” He received his air gunner badge on December 6^th, 1941. James overcame his lack of formal education and made his way to Squadron 207.

The loss of their only son was hard on the Allan family. James’ father died less than two years after his son.

Declaration of Passenger to Canada

James, 4 years old, accompanies his parents to Toronto.

 Other stories in this blog about Lancaster R5695EM-C:

Memorial Service - 80 Years Later

Promise to Lea

Planning a Memorial Service

Eugene E Chouiniere

Remembering Lancaster R5695EM-C

The Memorial Service marking the 80th Anniversary of the Loss of R5695EM-C at Langar Airfield, Nottingham

Standing on the airstrip at Langar Airfield on a bright afternoon was culmination of a twelve year quest that began when I met Lea.  Since that meeting and especially in the past 2 years,  Vandervoort, Parkyn, Chouiniere, Allan, Webb, Gallimore, Slater and Guichard family members, came together through snail mail letters, emails, a Facebook group, and blog posts to share stories and photos of the crew.

Then during the week of November 20th, we came together in person for the first time to remember the crew. Several American and English family members scheduled a 3 day tour with Classic Battlefield Tours to immerse ourselves in the history of RAF Bomber Command and Lancaster aircrafts.  We visited Runnymede Air Force Memorial, the International Bomber Command Centre and Memorial in Lincoln.  We stayed at The Petwood Hotel where RAF Dambusters located their operations center in WW2.

The location, the history, the aircraft and story sharing were all memorable and brought us the focus for the memorial on November 25th.  The service had many parts...

The indoor service in the control tower included a presentation of the Langar Airfield's history by Nigel Wood, a poem written and recited by Bill Webb that captured our thoughts and hearts, Psalm 23 reading, an address by Rev. Jonathan Stewart of 207 Squadron, and an  recitation of Oration by Pericles:

"But each one, man by man, has won imperishable praise, each has gained a glorious grave - not that sepulchre of each wherein they lie, but the living tomb of everlasting remembrance wherein their glory is enshrined, remembrance that will live on the lips, that will blossom in the deeds of their countryman the world over. For the whole world is the sepulchre of heroes; monuments may rise and tablets be set up to them in their own land, but on far -off shores there is an abiding memorial that no pen, no chisel has traced; it is graven not in stone or brass, but on the living hearts of humanity.  Take these men for your example.  Like them, remember that prosperity can only be for the free, that freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."  

Noted at the International Bomber Command Centre

Then we proceeded to walk to the Squadron 207 memorial along the rim of the airfield and where we  lovingly laid wreaths and poppy sticks to our crew.

After returning to the main building, Rev. Stewart presented each of the families with the bomber clasp.

Five Avro Lancasters and crews took off from Langar Airfield 80 years ago.  Three returned in the evening, two did not.  'C' for Charlie and its crew was 'lost without a trace' but on this day, we found them - Al, Jack, Jim, John, Windsor, Eugene, James and William and held them in our hearts.

It was twilight by then. 

Ali Webb and Kare Khoo from Webb Street Studios generously filmed and edited the memorial service at Langar.  Their  video is on Vimeo here.

Promise to Lea

It was just a macadam runway.  It was a gray foreground with a big clear blue sky and it stretched into the distant fields of Nottinghamshire. It wasn't in the best of shape but still serviceable for Skydive Langar and its parachuting enthusiasts. 

This wasn't just any airfield. It was Langar and eighty years ago, it serviced RAF Squadron 207 on its missions to bomb Germany and Nazi occupied territories. 

So on November 25th, 2022, I stood on that runway.  It was exactly eighty years to the hour and place where R5695EM-C took to the sky, never to return.  The eight crew members were lost without a trace and their graves unknown.  

I was keeping a promise to Lea.

In 2010, more than 12 years ago, I was given a mission by Lea Langlais who was residing in a Latham nursing home (in upstate New York) and who I was distantly related to.  Lea didn't want to speak to me about the topic I was seeking to hear about - growing up in Cohoes, New York speaking Quebecois French at home.  Instead, Lea spoke to me about her Uncle Eugene and how her family never learned what happened to him when he was on his last mission to bomb Haselunne, Germany.  She told me I needed to find out what happened to him and the crew.  She showed me photos.  She didn't have much time left.  I was working a full time job in a Bronx medical practice with little extra time for research. Yet... Lea was adamant.

Lea in 2010 - She would be 100 years old in September 2023

Unfortunately, Lea is no longer among us.  I cannot tell Lea, how, after visiting her, I blogged about Eugene Chouiniere and the crew, how I posted her photos of the crew, how a retired USMC pilot related to the pilot contacted me after reading my blog in 2012.  I cannot tell her how, during the height of the CoVID lockdown,  an independent historian in England emailed me after finding my blog to tell me they had information that might lead to the whereabouts of the aircraft. I cannot explain to Lea how it all led to a chain of events and to a memorial at Langar Air Field.

'Sorry, Lea.  I wished all the pieces of the puzzle came together before you passed in 2012'.

Lea's headstone in St. Joseph's French Canadian Cemetery,
Waterford, NY

Had Lea lived,  I could tell her what I now know.  I would tell her Eugene Edward Chouiniere, rests with his comrades on the bottom of the North Sea off Bergen ann Zee, Netherlands. I could tell Lea that Eugene was the mid upper air gunner and the aircraft and crew was incapacitated by the Luftwaffe in an air fight near the coastline. All eight crew members were never recovered.  Even today, they rest in their watery metal tomb in the North Sea.

I could tell Lea how her uncle is remembered at the Air Force Memorial at Runnymede and at the Air Bomber Command Center in Lincoln.

Entrance to the Air Force Memorial, Runnymede

At the entrance to the memorial

At the center of the Air Force Memorial

E E Chouiniere is the 17th name from top

And at the International Bomber Command Centre...

The Memorial Sculpture

Lincoln Cathedral - a landmark for the aviators

CHOUINIERE E E

And I could tell Lea more...

The week was an immersion on the aviation history of Air Bomber Command and WW2. We visited Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Centre, in Lincolnshire to understand the Lancaster aircraft and the duties of the crew.  The Lancaster looked like an armored tank with wings but unfortunately it was not as impregnable. Each air gunner was cold and vulnerable. This airworthy Lancaster in the photo below was undergoing winter service.

Eugene, as the Lancaster's mid air gunner was positioned in the top bubble,  suspended in a canvas swing..

mid upper bubble

In addition to Lea's Uncle Eugene there were the seven other crew members:

William Vandervoort, Vancouver BC Canada, was the bomb aimer

Alfred Parkyn, Palisades NJ USA, was the pilot

James Gallimore, Manchester England, was the flight engineer

James Louis Guichard, Dearborn Michigan USA, was the navigator

James McGregor Allan, Toronto Canada, was the wireless operator

Jack Slater,  Hyde England, the tail gunner

Windsor Webb, Peterborough England, mid lower air gunner,

Bomb aimer's bubble in the nose
The pilot's area above and behind

And the tail gunner

Later in the week, we viewed the preserved Lancaster in the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.

With more to follow soon.

A Memorial Service is Coming Together on November 25th, 2022

On November 25th, 2022, a great effort will come together to mark the 80th anniversary of the loss of Royal Air Force Lancaster R5695EM-C over the North Sea, NWN off the Bergen an Zee, Netherlands.  The eight man crew was returning from a bombing mission over Haselunne, Germany on November 25th, 1942 and were "lost without a trace".  However, the love of family members, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, most gone now too, kept the flame of memory aglow.  We will be honoring them at the airfield they last departed - Langar Airfield in Nottingham, UK.

Alfred Joseph Parkyn, pilot.
Palisades, New Jersey, USA

James McGregor Allan
 Mimico, Ontario, Canada

Eugene Edward Chouiniere, Gunner
Waterford/Cohoes, NY, USA

John James Gallimore
Denton, Manchester, Lancashire, UK

James Louis Guichard
Dearborn, Michigan, USA

Jack Slater

Hyde, Cheshire, UK

William James Vandervoort, navigator
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Windsor Francis Richard Webb
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, UK

Here are links to earlier blog posts about Lancaster R5695EM-C

• my first story, "Lost Without a Trace" posted in April 2011, was about Eugene Chouiniere
• Update: 5 October 2021
  
• Eugene Chouiniere: in Memoriam

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.

Lost Without a Trace: Eugene Edward Chouiniere 1923-1942 and Allen, Parkyn, Vandervoort, Guichard and too many more

This story was originally posted April 2011.

The Chouiniere family of Waterford, NY is a  large family.  Officially the Chouinieres are "distant extended family" to the families written about on this blog....through marriage...Etta Wills, Arthur St Hilaire, his cousin Lea St Hilaire, her mother Rosalie Chouiniere.   Young Eugene Chouiniere was a member of that family and I want to share his story because there isn't enough information in Waterford, Cohoes and in the internet community about him, the bombing missions he and others flew in World War II.  Perhaps because he flew for the Brits and Canadians, we here in New York seem to be less aware of his story and sacrifice.

Eugene Edward Chouiniere
in Cohoes, NY

Eugene Chouniere with Lea St Hilaire
Uncle, Niece, and Childhood Playmates

On the night of November 25th, 1942 eight men of the Royal Canadian Air Force went missing on a mission flying over Europe.  Five of the men were:


Alfred Joseph Parkyn, Pilot Officer, J/16080 from New Jersey, pilot

William John Vandervoort, Warrant Officer Class II, R/74630 RCAF from British Columbia, bomb aimer

James McGregor Allen, Flight Sergeant, R/93188 from Toronto, Ontario, wireless operator

James Louis Guichard, Warrant Officer Class II, R/83204 from Detroit, Michigan,

and finally
Eugene Edward Chouiniere from Cohoes and Waterford

The plane was an Avro Lancaster ... a heavy bomber made by Avro, a British aircraft manufacturer

Avro Lancaster Bomber
"A heavy bomber"

I do not know how Americans Parklyn and Guichard came to serve in the Canadian forces, but I do know the story of Eugene Chouiniere because Lea Langlois neé St Hilaire told it to me.   Eugene was from Northside in Waterford; he was quite young when both his parents died.  According to Lea, he was eight years old when he came to live with his older sister, Rosalie's family in Cohoes.  Despite Gene being her uncle, he and Lea were the same age and played together, fished together and hunted rabbits - together. The household spoke French and English. Lea's grandfather had a farm in the area of Cohoes that is still called "The Orchard" section of town. Gene's sister, Rosalie St Hilaire neé  Chouiniere became his surrogate mother, Alfred St Hilaire his foster father.

Then when he was still 17 years old, Gene wanted to join the US army and went to the recruiter.  He was told he was too young and should finish his high schooling and then join. Gene couldn't wait so he jumped on a train from Cohoes to somewhere in Québec where he easily enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
He didn't tell anyone where he was going when he left Cohoes.  When he returned, Lea and the family were stunned to learn he joined up in Canada!

Eugene Chouiniere was nineteen years old when he, the pilot and crew aboard the Lancaster  went missing without a trace over Haselunne, Germany. 

Presumed missing, casualties of the great war, never found, there were no bodies to place in a national cemetery or sacred ground.  However, they were memorialized in a special place at Runnymeade, England: Air Forces Memorial, Runnymede Those of 207 Squadron who have No Known Grave, WWII.

Silhouette of Lancaster Bomber