Virgil Smith
MilitaryVirgil Smith was Engineer / Top Turret gunner on the 14 January 1945 mission to bomb the bridge at Steinebrück, Saint-Vith, Belgium. B-26 Serial #42-107588. MACR 11926.
Virgil had completed 35 combat missions and spent a furlough in the United States in June 1944. He decided to fly on other missions and was back in England in August. He is credited with a total of 50 bombing missions, including that of 14 January 1945.
In his statement in MACR 11926, Captain Warren Anderson, bombardier on 107588 that day, mentions that, having been immediately captured after landing, about 5-10 miles SW of Saint-Vith, he was taken to a German HQ building where he met Armourer Gunner S/Sgt Louis Prejean of their crew. Sgt Virgil Smith was later brought to the same building. The Germans started walking the three of them East into Germany, away from the front. At about 22:00 that same day, they managed to escape from their guards and walked West toward the Allied lines. On 17 January, the 3 men reached a point about 1½ mile from the US lines and rested in a foxhole, being tired and not having eaten for 2 days.
At about 04:30 on the morning of the 17th, either the Americans or the Germans began shelling the area they were in and Anderson was hit by a shell fragment in the right thigh. Sgts Prejean and Smith helped him to a nearby farmhouse (“in the vicinity of Bovigny or Houffalize”) and left him with the Belgian family there. Both sergents planned to try to make it through the lines. Captain Anderson was captured on 19 January, taken to a hospital in Germany and mentions he never heard about the fate of Prejean and Virgil Smith. It is presumed they might have been killed during the fighting in the Houffalize / Saint-Vith area, Belgium (Battle of the Bulge).
Connections
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Units served with
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 323rd Bomb Group 453rd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35004343 and O-821391
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot / GEE Navigator on this mission
Aircraft
Missions
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Enlisted |
5 March 1942 | ||
Died |
14 January 1945 | Probably killed after landing in parachute and trying to reach the US lines during the fighting in the Houffalize / Saint-Vith area, Belgium (Battle of the Bulge) | |
Born |
the son of Virgil and Bess Smith | ||
Buried |
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Born |
Revisions
Added " / " in the "Role/job" field as a separator to aid readability.
Added a "#" to the A/C serial number in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
MACR 11926
NARA WWII Enlistment records
ABMC website
Personal research on plane and crew
Combat Chronology, WWII Memorial, Marauder Men / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia