Memorial

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Sgt Willis H. Smith was employed at Oregon Shipbuilding Company in Portland, Oregon.

Per 2nd Lt Colbrook, Navigator on Lt. Bratton’s crew flying #097. "The plane seemed just to ‘slip down’; everything appeared to be O.K.; no chutes seen".

German Report #KU2072, Air Field Headquarters A 8/il at Berik, gave a further account of this crew’s downing: That the aircraft had been shot down by anti-aircraft fire and crashed south east of Eubukow/Mecklenburg on 29 May at 1240 hours; that (9) dead had been recovered at the crash site noted to be 1.5 kilometers west of the village of Tuesen, (10) Km south of Neubukow.

In a supplementary report, same headquarters, two days later on 1 June, it was stated that a 10th casualty had been found, buried under one of the plane’s engines. This airman was identified as Lt Anderson, the crew Navigator. The identity of these dead members was established by personal dog tag means, and all were given burial on 29 May and 1 June, respectively. One fact gleaned from these German reports was: The body of S/Sgt Cole was never positively identified and named. However, another American casualty was identified and buried with the dead of the Stoltz crew - a Lt Walter, a crew member not flying on that plane this mission, or any other aircrew of the 392nd in the battle-order formation(?). No other facts on the loss of the Stoltz aircraft were given.