Memorial

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Winford R. Smalley graduated from North High School in 1935.

He was employed at the Des Moines ordnance plant before he enlisted on 10 June 1942 at Fort Des Moines, Iowa. He was sent overseas in May 1943.

The aircraft was engaged in a fight with six or seven enemy fighters, which caused the bomb bay to catch fire.

It was assumed that the airplane crashed in the vicinity of Metternich or Liplar-Erfstadt.

Six crew members survived and were taken prisoner; four were killed. According to German records, they were initially buried at Gross-Vernich. However a field investigation conducted on 13 February 1951 failed to locate the remains.

Further investigation revealed that most certainly the airplane didn't crash in Metternich or Liplar-Erfstadt but in Volmershoven and that the four killed crew members were buried in boxes at the cemetery of Witherschlick on 13 August 1943 as unknowns.

These remains were disinterred either on 23 March 1945 or 8 March 1946 by a U.S. team and evacuated to Margraten. At that time, the investigation team recommended further efforts to trace these four unknown casualties at Margraten. The results of this investigation are not known.