Name: Walter Joseph Doucette Rank: Staff Sergeant Service Number: 31136764 Service: 22nd Bomber Squadron, 341st Bomber Group, Medium, 14th Air Force (Flying Tigers), United States Army Air Force Awards: Purple Heart Date of Birth: September 29, 1920 Place of Birth: Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Date of Enlistment: June 27, 1942 Place of Enlistment: Boston, Massachusetts Address at Enlistment: Middlesex County, Massachusetts Age at Enlistment: 21 Height: 5 feet, 5 inches Complexion: Dark Eye Color: Hazel Hair Color: Brown Occupation: Semiskilled routemen Marital Status: Single Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: Marion Doucette (Mother), Massachusetts Date of Death: February 15, 1944 Age: 23 Cemetery: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii Grave: Plot Q, Row O, Site 95 Walter was the son of Edward Paul Doucette (1895-1980) and Marion Virginia Meuse (1901-1994), and the brother of Esther M Doucette (1923-2015), Clifford John Doucette (1925-1995), Rena Frances Doucette (1928-1999), Anne Cecilia (Doucette) O’Brien (1931-1975), and Kenneth J Doucette (1934-2010), and Helen Rosalie Doucette (1938-1950), and Peter N. Doucette. Walter’s father was born in Belleville, Argyle, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. His mother was born in East Quinan, Argyle, Yarmouth Co., NS. His parents married in Quinan October 8, 1917, and immigrated to the United States travelling on the SS Northland from Yarmouth to Boston in 1920. Walter’s siblings were born in Massachusetts, except for Clifford who was born in East Quinan, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia in 1923. Clifford also served in the US Army during WWII enlisting July 8, 1943, in Boston, Massachusetts (Service No. 31366062). Clifford was discharged February 24, 1946. Walter attended Reading Memorial High School and played baseball and football (in 1936 and 1937). Walter was employed doing boiler work in 1940 (from the 1940 census, April 2nd). He registered for the US Draft in Wakefield, Massachusetts on February 15, 1942, while working for Sanford Mills. Walter enlisted to serve in June of 1942 and was assigned to the 22nd Bombardment Squadron of the USAAF. This Squadron was assigned to the 341st Bombardment Group (341st BG) of the 14th Air Force. The 14th Air Force (The Flying Tigers). The 14th was activated in the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre, and flew against targets in Japanese-occupied China, Burma, Thailand, and French Indochina (Vietnam). The B-25 Mitchell-equipped 341st Bombardment Group, was based at Yangkai from January 1944 to September 1945. Units of the 341st (11th Bomb Squadron, 22nd Bomb Squadron, and the 491st Bomb Squadron) flew missions from Yangkai, Kweilin (Guilin) and Liuchow (Liuzhou). Primarily targets were Japanese river shipping, road convoys, airfields, and other targets of opportunity. They also conducted sea sweeps over the offshore shipping lanes following the China coast and attacked Japanese targets on Hainan Island. The Group's crews became quite proficient at destroying bridges in using their variation on 'Skip' and 'Glide' bombing. Staff Sergeant Walter J. Doucette was an Aerial Gunner (MOS 611) with the 22nd Bombardment Squadron. He was aboard aircraft 42-53489, a B-25C Mitchell, tasked to perform a sea sweep mission over the Gulf of Tonkin on February 15, 1944, to be followed by attacking inshore bridges with any remaining bombs. Separated from three other planes on the mission by poor weather conditions, his plane was last seen near the coastline and failed to return to base at Yangkai, China, and none of the crew reported in. On February 26, 1944, message was received from French authorities in French Indo-China (Vietnam) stating the plane had crashed near Do Len killing all the crew, and that they were buried by the French. At about the same time, intelligence reports indicated the Do Len Bridge had been damaged on or about February 15, 1944, during an attack by a B-25. A note to the American Foreign Office from the Swiss Consulate in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) also reported that 6 Airmen were killed in the crash of a B-25 at Do Len in Than Hoa Province of Vietnam. The other crew lost were: Technical Sergeant Alfred R. Sandini, Radio Gunner Born Dec 18, 1918, in Marlborough, Middlesex Co. Massachusetts. Unidentified remains for Alfred Sandini was only identified in 2019, and his remains were repatriated and interred at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Marlborough, Middlesex Co., Mass. 1st Lieutenant James H. Gardner, Pilot Born March 9, 1919. Interred at Olivewood Cemetery, Riverside, Riverside County, California. 2nd Lieutenant Sim Baird Clements, Co-pilot Born Aug. 31, 1921, in Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky. Interred at the Hillcrest Memorial Park in Lexington. 1st Lieutenant Charles Francis Ferguson, Navigator Born Aug 29, 1918, in Lawrence County, Indiana. Interred at the Springville Cemetery West in Lawrence County. Staff Sergeant Joseph Mihalichko, Flight Engineer Born March 3, 1923. Interred at the Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly, Burlington County, New Jersey The six crew’s remains were removed from the crash site, and they were interred at the Kunming Cemetery in China on October 22, 1945. Between 1947 and 1949 the remains of crew members were transferred to the Central Identification Laboratory established at Honolulu’s Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. On June 17, 1949, Walter was re-interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of The Pacific (known as the Punchbowl) in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Source: findagrave honorstates Nationwide Gravesite Locator, National Cemetery Administration, US Department of Veterans Affairs