David Duane Townsend was born in 1919 in Maryville to William Filmore Townsend and Myrtle Irene Fagala. He had a brother Orin Wesley Townsend and a sister Dorothy Aileen Townsend. He enlisted on December 5, 1941, in Fort Oglethorpe, GA and was reported missing while on duty somewhere off the coast of Florida.
He is memorialized at East Coast Memorial in New York, NY and at the Hillsboro Memorial Cemetery in Brandon, Florida.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, 9 April 1943
Cpl. David O. Townsend, of Knoxville, was one of two Army fliers killed when a bomber from Boca Chica (Fla.) Air Base crashed at sea off Key West on March 23, according to United Press. The dispatch said the other victim was Cpl. Robert B. Reinhert, of Merrion Station, Tenn. Four other crew members were rescued from a rubber life raft after several hours in the water. Cpl. Townsend, 24, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Townsend, of Woodlawn Drive. He was first reported “missing”. The young man was born in Maryville, graduated from Central High at Jacksboro and attended U-T. A brother is Lt. Orin W. Townsend.
- Rank: Corporal
- Date of birth: 14 November 1919
- Date of death: 25 March 1943
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Knoxville
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 17th Anti-Submarine Squadron
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: East Coast Memorial, New York
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XIV, Middle Panel
- Contact us to sponsor David D. Townsend
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