Name: George Paul Gaudet Rank: Flight Officer Service Number: 31294754, T-006266 Service: 325th Base Unit, Avon Park Army Airfield, United States Army Air Force Date of Birth: September 13, 1923 Place of Birth: Somerville, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Date of Enlistment: February 2, 1943 Place of Enlistment: Boston, Massachusetts Address at Enlistment: Middlesex County, Massachusetts Age at Enlistment: 19 Height: 5 feet, 10 inches Complexion: Light Brown Eye Color: Blue Hair Color: Brown Occupation: Semiskilled warehousing, storekeeping, handling, loading, unloading Marital Status: Single Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: John E Gaudet (Father) Date of Death: October 29, 1944 Age: 21 Cemetery: Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum, Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts George Paul Gaudet was the son of John Ernest Gaudet (1899-1985) and Mary Irene (Doucette) Gaudet (1898- 1991), and the brother of Edward R Gaudet (1921-1944), Phyllis Irene (Gaudet) Mullins (1927-2023), Elizabeth (Gaudet) Alliot, David Alvin Gaudet (1931-2017), and Gregory Ernest Gaudet (b. 1936). George’s father was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and his mother was born in Argyle, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. George’s father Jean Ernest Gaudet served in the Canadian Army in WWI with the 47th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and immigrated to the United States after the war. George’s brother Edward R Gaudet also served in the US Army Air Force and was killed in action June 29, 1944. George registered for the draft June 30, 1942, in Somerville, Mass. and was working at the Bartlet Tree Expert Co. at 795 Memorial Drive in Cambridge, Mass. Flight Officer Gaudet served with the 325th Base Unit at Avon Park Army Airfield, along Arbuckle Creek in Highlands County, Florida. Originally a sub-base of MacDill Field in Tampa, Florida, this site became a base in October 1942. In November 1943, this facility became Avon Park Army Airfield, a fully integrated air base, providing transition training in combat aircraft, bombing and gunnery skills. George was the Co-Pilot, and one of eight aviators killed when B-17G Flying Fortress #42-102835 crashed into Lake Arbuckle, three miles north-west of the air base. Shortly after takeoff, the B-17 attained an altitude of about 3,000 feet, at which time the tail gunner informed the pilots that the No. 4 engine was smoking. Moments later, he informed them that the motor was on fire. The pilots gave an order to bail out. Just seconds after the tail gunner secured his parachute harness, the motor exploded and fell off the wing, and the aircraft went into a spiraling dive. He was the only crewmember to exit the bomber and survive before it impacted the water of Lake Arbuckle, Florida. The other crewmembers killed were: 2nd Lieutenant James C Murphy, O-780692, Pilot, from Richmond, California Flight Officer John C Evernden, T-133945, Navigator, from Buffalo, New York 2nd Lieutenant Mortimer A Alnwick, O2064163, Bombardier, from Ridgewood, Queens, New York Sergeant Harvey R Ford, 34134100, Flight Engineer, from Utica, Mississippi Corporal Salvatore C Bongiovanni, 32894265, Radio Operator, from Mount Vernon, New York Corporal George L Heffington, 35708119, Gunner, from Sturgis, Kentucky Private First-Class Frank W Bannerman, Jr, 32988228, Assistant Radio Operator, from Queens Village, Queens, New York Flight Officer George Paul Gaudet’s body was returned to his home state, and he is interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Middlesex County, Mass.

Sources: findagrave honorstates.org