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 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.

80 years later, I am going to Langar Airfield

In July 2010 I met Lea Langlais for the very first time.  I wanted to record her story about growing up Franco-American in Cohoes, NY in the 1920s and 1930s.  Lea didn't want to talk about that on that day.  She wanted to tell me about her uncle, Eugene Edward Chouiniere who was a mere six months older than her.  She wanted me to find out what happen to Eugene and the other crew who disappeared without a trace. "Can you find out if there is any new information?" she asked me.  Since that day Lea's story about Eugene has haunted me.  Her family never learned what happened on November 25, 1942 when the aircraft, R5695EM-C, never returned to Langar Airfield in England.  

The last letter in Eugene's file from the RCAF to his family was dated 5 January 1952:

The letter informs Rosalie Chouiniere St.Hilaire that although her brother, Eugene, "has no known war grave", he will be remembered at Runnymeade and his name will appear there.  It was small consolation to the Chouiniere family and all the others who never learned where the earthly remains of the crew rest.

In the years since that meeting, I have researched and found family of the crew who also perished along with Eugene. When I write, call, email, or send a Facebook message to living family of the crew to tell them I am researching their lives and family, the response has been consistent.  They tell me that their father or mother, grandfather or grandmother always remembered their son, brother, or uncle who was a missing crew member, in the days and months before their own passing because they hoped for closure.  The families always wanted to learn about their son, brother or uncle who went missing without a trace.

Lea had a photo album she shared with me.  I quickly snapped the photos of the 5 airmen she kept in her album.  The images were of the 3 Americans- Al Parkyn, Jim Guichard, Eugene - and the 2 Canadians William Vandervoort and James McGregor Allen.  At that time I didn't understand the complete crew also included Windsor Webb, Jack Slater and Jim Gallimore - the English members.  I went home and blogged about Lea and Eugene Chouiniere - Lost Without A Trace.   In the months afterwards, I was contacted through the blog by two living family members of the Chouiniere and Parkyn family.  I kept their contact information but the story moved to the background of my busy life at the time.  Then in November 2020, I was contacted by The Field Detectives and Goadby-Marwood.  They were researching another aircraft in 207 squadron that crashed returning on the same mission in the same night. Thanks to these history lovers and independent archaeologists, the story of R5695EM-C was rekindled and the Parkyn and Chouiniere connections were reestablished.   Michael Parkyn, USMC Ret., has not allowed the flame of remembrance to be extinguished.  His research in UK and USA and his perseverance come to fruition.  He has consistently followed the story of his cousin/pilot Alfred Joseph Parkyn, the crew, the aircraft, and the mission, Michael has filled the void of 80 years by planning the memorial service to be held next week at Langar.  B. W. , from the family of crew member Windsor Francis Richard Webb, stepped up and generously contributed time and effort to ensure the service will dignify the crew of Avro Lancaster R5695EM-C.     

See you at Langar on November 25th, 2022 exactly 80 years after R5695EM-C was lost without a trace.  Thanks to Michael P. and B.W., the crew is no longer lost to us. We keep their memory.

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