A special homecoming – eight decades later
Eugene Shauvin, a young US Army Air Corps 2nd Lieutenant from Spokane WA, was piloting a transport aircraft from Belgium to the Netherlands in World War II when his plane was shot down. Seven decades went by with no news of his whereabouts – until spring last year, when his remains were found and recovered.
Alaska Air flew the lieutenant’s remains from Omaha to Seattle and on to Spokane a month ago. Horizon Air employees worked with the ‘Fallen Soldier’ team and, through some amazing scrambling, lined up to Alaska Air’s Boeing 737 ‘Honoring Those Who Serve’ aircraft to fly Shauvin home. Upon arrival, Horizon Air employees came to the plane for a sombre ceremony.
A graveside ceremony took place in Spokane on 23 July, where a 21-gun salute and an honour guard performed ‘Taps’, giving Shauvin a hero’s welcome home – 78 years in the making. (cj)