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Courville Ovis P.

Name:
Ovis P. Courville
Rank:
Staff Sergeant
Serial Number:
Unit:
359th Bomber Squadron, 303th Bomb Group
Date of Death:
1944-03-03
State:
Cemetery:
Plot:
Row:
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Born on 8 February 1917, George Chesley Woodman resided in Rockingham County, New Hampshire prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 5 November 1941, in Providence, Rhode Island. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a mechanic and also as Single, without dependents. He served as a B-17 co-pilot with 359th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group.

Greencastle airfield was built in 1942 south of the fishing village of Kilkeel, Northern Ireland, as an RAF bomber Operational Training Unit but was transferred to USAAF control on 3 August 1943 and was used then as a training base. From 3 December 1943 until September 1944, it was used by the 4th Gunnery and Tow Target Flight with Havocs, Lysanders, and Vengeance A-35B’s in the B-24 gunnery school.

On 3 March 1944, the Havoc I AX924 of the 4th GGTF crashed 6 miles north of the airfield on a dry bombing run over an auxiliary range. The pilot, 1st Lt George Chesley Woodman, and his passenger, S/Sgt Ovis P Courville, were killed. Both airmen were buried first in the Lisnabreeny Former American Military Cemetery in England. The cemetery closed in 1948 and their remains were exhumed and transferred. S/SGT Courville's burial place is unknown.

Source of information: https://aviation-safety.net