Harry Partridge was born on June 20, 1923 and was from Mobile, Alabama. Partridge, a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, was 21 years old and had completed one year at Spring Hill College after graduating from Murphy High School. On September 14, 1944, eight P-47 planes of the 526th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group of the 12th Air Force, departed their base at Poretta, Corsica on a bombing mission of a strategic bridge crossing the Ticino river near Bernate Ticino and Boffalora. One of the pilots was 2LT Harry A. Partridge Jr. on his second combat mission. After dropping their bombs on the target, the planes spit into groups of two to search for and attack targets of opportunity”. During this part of the mission, Partridge’s plane was hit by enemy Anti- Aircraft fire. Per witnesses, after steering the plane from crashing into Boffalora, Partridge parachuted out, but the plane was too low for his chute to open and he died on impact. The town held a church service for him and buried him in the town cemetery where the plaque is placed today. In 2013, at the inauguration of the marker memorial (See Partridge P-47 Crash Site Memorial this website) Partridge’s brother, James, also a US Air Force Pilot commented: “My brother was the only (American soldier) who was buried in the village, “They took care of him. They recorded his records and buried him.” Partridge’s body was repatriated back to his current resting place in Alabama in the late 1940s.