Matt Tillery Coward was born on 3 November 1915 in Byington. Tennessee. His parents were Charles Cross Coward and Nancy Elizabeth Cox from Knoxville, Tn.
Buried in Knoxville National Cemetery, X, 42-A
Navigator
Husband of Agnes Coward of Monroe, LA, was killed during a rain and electrical storm when the plane that he was an instructor on crashed and burned. Matt was based at Monroe, LA, but the plane crash was in Winston County. He was born in 1916 and was a graduate of Knoxville Hight School in 1934. He graduated third in his class from the Army Air Navigation School where he became an instructor. He was buried March 31, 1944, at National Cemetery, Knoxville (Plot OFCR X-42A).
-Submitted by David E. Shaw
The Knoxville Journal, March 29, 1944
Lt. Matt T. Coward, 28, of 321 E. Oklaoma Avenue, was accidentally killed in plane crash at Key Field, Miss., 9 p.m. Sunday. Former manager of Emory Store Company Warehouse in Atlanta, Ga. Volunteered for Army Air Force in June 1942, received his wings on March 20th, 1943 and was stationed at Selman Field, Monroe, La., as navigator instructor, graduated of Knoxville High School.
Survivors: wife, Mrs. Agnes Andrews Coward, Atlanta, Ga., mother, Mrs. C.C. Coward; sisters, Mrs. Lucile Lotz, Miss Helen and Miss Margaret Coward; brothers, Burdette and Paul Coward, all of Knoxville; George W. Coard, Navy at Davisville, Rhode Island; James H. Coward, U.S. Army, Camp Barkley, Texas; grandmother, Mrs. R.L. Cox, Knoxville.
- Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 3 November 1915
- Date of death: 26 March 1944
- County: Knox
- Hometown: Knoxville
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 42 Training Group
- Conflict: World War II
- Burial/Memorial Location: Knoxville National Cemetery, Knoxville, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XIV, Top Panel
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