Pilot finally laid to rest in hometown 78 years after being shot down in WWII

[rebewranger]

Pilot finally laid to rest in hometown 78 years after being shot down in WWII


 JULY 31, 2022 GARRETT CABEZA - THE SPOKESMAN REVIEW

It’s been 78 years, but a World War II pilot who was shot out of the Belgium skies was finally laid to rest Saturday in his hometown of Spokane.
 
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Eugene P. Shauvin, of Hillyard, was 25 when the C-47 Skytrain he was flying on Sept. 17, 1944, was struck by a burst of German anti-aircraft fire and went down near Retie, Belgium.

Shauvin was declared missing in action until earlier this year when his remains were identified, thanks in large part to the perseverance of Shauvin’s daughter, Linda Chauvin, who was 3 when her father died.

Chauvin, who grew up in Spokane but lives in Virginia, spells her name the original French way, from before it was apparently altered by a nun at the St. Patrick School where her father graduated in 1933.

https_americanmilitarynews.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanmilitarynews.com%2F2022%2F07%2Fthe-best-america-has-to-offer-spokane-pilot-finally-laid-to-rest-in-hometown-after-being-shot-down-in-wwii%2F

[Smokin Joe]

 

[sneakypete]

Pilot finally laid to rest in hometown 78 years after being shot down in WWII


 JULY 31, 2022 GARRETT CABEZA - THE SPOKESMAN REVIEW

It’s been 78 years, but a World War II pilot who was shot out of the Belgium skies was finally laid to rest Saturday in his hometown of Spokane.
 
U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Eugene P. Shauvin, of Hillyard, was 25 when the C-47 Skytrain he was flying on Sept. 17, 1944, was struck by a burst of German anti-aircraft fire and went down near Retie, Belgium.

Shauvin was declared missing in action until earlier this year when his remains were identified, thanks in large part to the perseverance of Shauvin’s daughter, Linda Chauvin, who was 3 when her father died.

Chauvin, who grew up in Spokane but lives in Virginia, spells her name the original French way, from before it was apparently altered by a nun at the St. Patrick School where her father graduated in 1933.

https_americanmilitarynews.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Famericanmilitarynews.com%2F2022%2F07%2Fthe-best-america-has-to-offer-spokane-pilot-finally-laid-to-rest-in-hometown-after-being-shot-down-in-wwii%2F

@rangerrebew

Anything said about the rest of the crew,or any paratroops they may have been carrying?

BTW,I think it was my 1st or 2nd jump after graduating from jump school that I jumped from a C-47 over Nighmaegan (spelling) drop zone at Bragg,during a night equipment jump with a spare M-2 50 CAL barrel strapped to me.

Jumps just don't get much "cooler" than that. I think it MAY have even be the last time the C-47's were used by the regular army and USAF.

I think the ones that weren't sold to 3rd world countries as passenger planes were given to Air America to use in Laos and Cambodia.