This picture came from the year book of the Aviation Cadets Class 43-F
Howell Collier Osborne jr was born on the 20th August 1922. He grew up in Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas along with his brothers William, Thomas and sister Martha. A married man his wife Francis W. Osborne (nee Stewart) originally came from Van Buren, Arkansas. They had a daughter named Ann. William (Bill) served in the Army from 1942-45 landing on Utah beach on D Day and was alsdo involved in The Battle of The Bulge possibly with the 90th Infantry Division.
Howell's father Howell C Osborne Sr served as a student in the Army Training Corps at Fayetteville, Arkansas during ww1. After leaving the army he set up the Howell C Osborne Company in 1920 supplying local farmers with seeds, fertilizer and US approved baby chicks.
After enlisting as a 2nd Lt Howell jr, Service n0. 0-685276 learned to fly Vultee BT13 Valiant's as an Aviation Cadet at Coffeyville Army Airfield, Kansas. He completed his basic flying course as a member of Class 43-F achieving his rating as a pilot on the 26th June 1943 and then his instrument rating on the 19th October 1943. At the time of the accident he had accumulated 230 hours, 40 minutes flying time on B26's.
After initial training he was transfered to the 335th Bombardment Group, Barksdale, Louisiana where he was selected to train on the B26 Marauder, medium bomber. While training at Barksdale he was joined by his wife Francis. They rented accomodation close to Barksdale staying at 701 MacAuthur Street, Bossier City, Louisiana. In one of the photographs below Howell can be seen standing outside this house.
After his remains were recovered from the crash site he was buried with full military honours on the 20th April 1944 in Plot B, Row 2, Grave no4 at Lisnabreeny Military Cemetery, Rocky Road, Belfast. In 1947 the cemetery was decommissioned. Howell's remains were exhumed and upon the request of his family he was repatriated to the Unitied States. He is now buried along with his parents Howell Osborne sr and Neil Osborne in Forest Park Cemetery, County Sebastian, 5001 Mid Land Boulevard, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The three photograhs below show Francis and Ann, Howell's wife and daughter, Howell outside 701 MacAuthur Street and Howell and Francis. All photgraphs were kindly supplied by Mark Lutter, Howell's nephew.
