Memorial

More information

1st Lt Francis C. Smedley joined the Air Corps in August 1942 and was commissioned a second lieutenant on 20 May 1943. He was sent overseas around Christmas of the same year.

The airplane was named after Smedley's mother favorite song.

The aircraft was hit by flak over target area, and about three minutes after bombing the target. At approximately 5 miles west of Brussels the #2 engine, the cockpit and the bomb bay were seen on fire. Nine of the crew got out of the plane and landed in Brussels and the outskirts. Francis Smedley was last to leave the plane. What happened is still unsure. Some sources stated that his parachute caught the tail plane, while eye witnesses on the ground said that he bailed out but his parachute caught fire.

The airplane circled around the estate of the Viscount de Ghellinck, Castle Van Nieuwermolen at Sint-Ulriks-Kapelle, where his family stood outside their water castle. Moments later it crashed a few hundred yards away.

This was the 20th mission of this crew.

He was initially buried at the cemetery of Brussels.

1st Lt Francis C. Smedley is also remembered at the Birch Creek Cemetery in Menominee County, Michigan.

His brother Vincent also served and saw action in North-Africa and Germany.