John D. Smith, was in the Army – 5th Armored Div., Recon Battalion, From April 1941 until April 1943 doing training in the U.S during that time and was promoted to Captain.

In April 1943 he transferred to the Army Air Corps for training at various bases. In may of 1944 he picked up a new B-24 at Mitchell Field, NY and prepared for flight overseas. On June 2, 1944 they arrived at Cerignola, Italy with the 15th Air Force, 304th Wing, 455th Group, 743rd Squadron.

By June 6, 1944 they were involved in bombing missions. He flew 24 missions as pilot with the 743rd. On Oct. 22, 1944 he was assigned to the 740th as Asst. Squadron Operations Officer. and appointed as Squadron pilot on Oct. 24th. On Nov. 4th he was appointed as Squadron Operations Officer, and as Commanding Officer of the 740th on Feb. 3rd, 1945. He flew 8 missions with the 740th and was promoted to Major during that time. On March 2nd,1945 he was assigned to the 743rd as Commanding Officer. He flew 3 missions with the 743rd during this assignment.

On March 28, 1945 he was in route back to the U.S. and discharged from active duty on Sept. 28, 1945. He was discharged from the Air Force Reserve on March 26, 1955.

“My father told us that he was getting ready to go on a bombing mission when a sergeant came up to him and said that he needed one more flight to get in his number needed to be able to go home, and asked my father if he could go with him on the mission. My father told him yes, that he could fly in the tail gunner position. So, they took off and proceeded to the target. My father said that the co-pilot was flying the plane, when something happened to the B-24 ahead of them. The co-pilot pulled up to avoid the bomber in front, and my father’s plane went into a spin or dive, with a full load of bombs. My father said it was almost impossible to recover from that, saying that the B-24 was like flying a ‘boxcar’. Anyway, they did manage to recover and continued on with the bombing mission.

About 3 weeks later my father received a letter from his father who lived in Houston, Texas. His father had family in Eagle Lake, Texas, west of Houston, and was going there by car. In his letter he said he had picked up a hitchhiker in uniform, which he did fairly often. The hitchhiker and he got to talking, and my grandfather found out that the soldier had just returned from fulfilling his military duty in the Air Corps. My grandfather asked the airman where he had been stationed, and the airman told him Cerignola, Italy. My grandfather told the airman that his son was stationed there, and the airman asked what his name was. When my grandfather told him, John Smith, the airman said “that’s the SOB who almost got me killed on my last mission”. “

Info and photos courtesy of Bruce Smith.