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NAME Leonard Mailloux |
NICKNAME — |
SERVICE NUMBER O-11294 |
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| UNIT VMSB-236 Pilot |
HOME OF RECORD 1 Beacon Avenue Woonsocket, RI |
NEXT OF KIN Parents, Leonard & Clara Mailloux |
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| DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1920 at Woonsocket, RI |
ENTERED SERVICE July 15, 1941 (enlisted) July 7, 1942 (commissioned) |
DATE OF LOSS July 17, 1943 |
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| REGION Hawaiian Islands |
CAMPAIGN / AREA Oahu |
CASUALTY TYPE Non-battle death |
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| CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS Captain Leonard Mailloux was a Marine pilot assigned to VMSB-236, a scout-bomber squadron training in Hawaii during the summer of 1943. The pilots were given a difficult task on 17 July 1943 – learning to fly on instruments alone. To simulate zero visibility, their cockpits were blacked out. Mailloux and PFC Rosario Macone departed their airfield for the training flight in a Dauntless dive bomber, SBD-5 #10918. At 1030 hours, something went drastically wrong, and the bomber crashed into the sea approximately 9 miles southeast of Barber’s Point, Oahu. PFC Macone was able to parachute to safety, but Captain Mailloux went down with the plane. His body was never recovered. |
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| INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS — |
LAST KNOWN RANK Captain |
STATUS OF REMAINS Lost at sea |
MEMORIALS Honolulu Memorial |
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