Name:
John Mason Smith
Rank:
Staff Sergeant
Serial Number:
38296961
Unit:
155th Photographic Squadron, 10th Photo Reconnaissance Group
Date of Death:
1944-11-04
State:
Georgia
Cemetery:
Lorraine American Cemetery,A St. Avold, Franc
Plot:
A
Row:
12
Grave:
61
Decoration:
Purple Heart, Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Comments:
SSgt John M. Smith, gunner of the A-20 Havoc 43-21458, took off from A-64 in St-Dizier/Robinson on a photo reconnaissance mission over Thionville-Yutz airfield. At around 2104 US radar dishes lost contact with the plane that, according to eyewitness testimony and records unearthed four decades later at the request of the family, was shot down by German AA fire. Due to the severity of their wounds, the individual bodies could not be identified and were buried together.