Name: Bourneuf Freeman Pothier Rank: Pilot Officer (Air Gunner) Service No: J/91133 Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Air Force 405 Squadron Awards: DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) Date of Birth: March 19, 1923 Place of Birth: Pinkney’s Point, Yarmouth Co., NS Date of Enlistment: July 25, 1941 Place of Enlistment: RCAF Recruiting Centre, Halifax, NS Address At Enlistment: Pinkney’s Point, Yarmouth Co., NS Age at Enlistment: 18 Height: 5 feet, 3 ½ inches Weight: 111 lbs Complexion: Medium Eyes: Gray Hair: Medium Brown Trade: Fisherman Marital Status: Single Religion: Roman Catholic Next of Kin: Mr. Luke Pothier [Father] Pinkney’s Point, Yarmouth Co., NS Date of Death: May 7, 1944 Age at Death: 21 Cemetery: Mantes-Gassicourt Communal Cemetery (Yvelines, France) Grave Reference: Plot D. Grave 10. Awards: D F C (Distinguished Flying Cross) The 92nd name on the WWII list of the Yarmouth War Memorial (Bourneuf E. on the Yarmouth War Memorial) Commemorated on page 419 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance Displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa on September 6 Pilot Officer Pothier was the son of Luke R. Pothier and Lisette E. [DeVillers] Pothier, of Pinkney's Point, Yarmouth Co., NS. He attended Pinkney’s Point School between 1929 and 1939 and the Yarmouth Academy between 1939 and 1940. He spent his spare time swimming, playing baseball, boxing, and studying. He was a brother of Carroll Vincent Pothier (1921-2005) who served overseas with the West Nova Scotia Regiment, and Malcolm Gerard Pothier. Basic training was completed in Canada and he embarked from New York on November 23, 1942 and disembarked in England on November 30, 1942. He served with 22 Operational Training Unit and with 1659 Conversion Unit before being assigned to Squadron 427 on April 25, 1943. He served with 428 Squadron from May 6, 1943 to August 30, 1943 when he was transferred to Squadron 405. On the night of May 6/7, 1944 his aircraft failed to return from operations against enemy territory. The aircraft was hot by anti-aircraft fire, exploded in the air some distance from the ground and crashed at Mantes-Gassicourt, Seine-et-Oise. The crew were all killed. His body was found the next morning in the garden of Madame Stoss of Rue de la Vallee Fouquet and he was was buried the same day where he had fallen. In 1945 the body was re-interred in the Church Cemetery at Gassicourt. Sources and Information: Commonwealth War Graves Commission Veterans Affairs Canada