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Personal info

Full name
CARNAVALE, Lawrence Vasset
Date of birth
12 September 1925
Age
19
Place of birth
Beverly, Essex County, Massachusetts
Hometown
Worcester County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
31428519
Rank
Private
Function
unknown
Unit
423rd Infantry Regiment,
106th Infantry Division
Awards
Bronze Star

Death

Status
Died non-Battle
Date of death
18 May 1945
Place of death
Evere, Belgium

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 38 39

Immediate family

Members
Marion F. (Heath) Carnavale (mother)
Helen Carnavale (sister)
Henry Carnavale (brother)

More information

Pvt Carnavale was a toolmaker.

He enlisted at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana on 23 March 1944.

The flight was with ah British Hudson V9169 detailed to fly from Luneburg, Germany and transport British former POW’s to Brussels, Belgium.

These were nonstop flights continuing night and day, and regarded as an emergency to remove all the POW’s out of Germany as soon as possible.

On this particular flight, there was not enough of the British POW’s available for flight, so American POW’s were boarded.

There were eight passengers on board and five crew members.

Upon landing, the airplane bounced badly and the pilot attempted re-take off, engines gunned, he climbed steeply, fell back in a tail slide, stalled, nosedived to the ground, and burst into flames upon impact. There were no survivors.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, Terry Hirsch, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - 1930 Census / U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, www.rafcommands.com, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Peter Schouteten