Person    | Male  Born 2/4/1919  Died 5/8/1941

Pilot Officer William Richard Driver

Countries: USA

War dead, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as having died in WW2.

Pilot Officer William Richard Driver

William Richard Driver was the son of James Skelton Driver Junior (1891-1940) and Xylda Irwin Driver née Lowe (1898-1994). There is some confusion as to his date and place of birth. The American Air Museum in Britain website states he was born in Tunica, Mississippi, USA, whereas most ancestry.co.uk records give Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, USA, as the location. Similarly the Find a Grave website gives his date of birth as 2 April 1919 (which we have used) but other records show it to have been 31 December 1918.

The 1920 United States Federal Census show him aged 1 year living in Tunica, Mississippi, but the census returns in 1930 and 1940 state that he was residing in Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee.

He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 64869, and was a Pilot Office attached to No.71 Eagle Squadron when, according to the Royal Air Force Commands website, he was killed, aged 22 years, on 5 August 1941, flying a Hawker Hurricane MkII aeroplane, serial number Z3266. Based at RAF North Weald, his aircraft apparently dived into the ground about one mile north of Middle Waltham, Essex. His body was buried in Plot 20, Row B, Grave 18, next to that of Pilot Officer Kenneth Samson Taylor, at the Brookwood Military Cemetery, Dawney Hill, Woking, GU24 0JD.

He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website.

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Pilot Officer William Richard Driver

Commemorated ati

Eagle Squadrons

{On the front of the pillar, facing north, into the square, below a carved im...

Read More

Other Subjects

Fred Vance

Fred Vance

Sergeant, 121 Eagle Squadron, American, killed.

Person, USA

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Katherine Mackay Low

Katherine Mackay Low

Philanthropist. Born in Georgia, USA to British parents. After her mother's death, the family moved to Britain. In Battersea, which at the time was a deprived area of London, she devoted herself to...

Person, Philanthropy, USA

1 memorial
Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Dale Taylor

Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Dale Taylor

Edwin Dale Taylor was born on 20 January 1918 in Durant, Bryan County, Oklahoma, USA, the youngest of the four children of Wayne Oscar Taylor (1895-1956) and Eula Sabra Taylor née Miller (1893-1950...

Person, Armed Forces, USA

War served, WW2
1 memorial
Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson

Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson

Inorganic chemist. Born at 506 Halifax Road, Springside, near Todmorden, Yorkshire. Died at 14 Passmore Street, London.

Person, Science, USA

1 memorial
Stephen Henry Crowe

Stephen Henry Crowe

Lieutenant Stephen Henry Crowe, was born on 3 February 1920 in Bellaire, Belmont County, Ohio, USA, the son of Steven Henry Crowe (1895-1954) and Antonia H. Crowe née Hasel (1899-1970). His father ...

Person, Armed Forces, USA

War served, WW2
1 memorial

Previously viewed

A. L. Owens
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
H. Thompson
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Frederick Henry Edward Brand

Frederick Henry Edward Brand

A parishioner or member of the congregation of St Matthias, N16, who died in WW1.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
G. Mitchell
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
J. A. Pegram
War dead, WW1
1 memorial