Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1952 Lucky Bag:

Olivier Robert Billion

Having lived more than half of his life in Paris and finding the slow and easy life there to his liking, one could not honestly say that Ollie was in complete accord with the system. However, he tolerated it admirably well, and his good nature and broad grin proved contagious to those suffering with him during the hard times. One of the most generous and best liked fellows, his genial personality will be an asset to him in whichever field he serves. His present goal is to wear Navy wings and to become even more of a cosmopolitan through world-wide travel.

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He was also a member of the 11th Company staff (2nd set).

Loss

Oliver was lost on June 1, 1955 when the F9F Panther he was piloting crashed just off the coast of Coronado Island, San Diego, California.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

While flying a Navy F9F Panther jet at about 500 feet altitude, Olivier’s plane suddenly went into a dive and crashed into the water about a quarter of a mile off the Hotel del Coronado. It sank in 30 feet of water. He was attached to fighter squadron 144 at Miramar naval air station. His parents had just arrived and were watching him from the North Island landing strip waiting to greet him.

In February 1954, Olivier was stationed at Pensacola with his former Naval Academy classmates Lt. (j.g.) William S. Bowen and W. Max Riggs.

Olivier’s family moved to New Orleans in 1942. On August 31, 1954, his father Olivier sailed from Cherbourg to NYC on the Queen Elizabeth with wife Sadie (born Downman in Texas) and sister Armande, born in France. His other two sisters were Ann and Francoise Billion Richardson who died in 2012.

Oliver is buried in Louisiana.