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Personal info

Full name
BRACE, Richard John "Dick"
Date of birth
15 September 1919
Age
24
Place of birth
Buffalo, Erie County, New York
Hometown
Buffalo, Erie County, New York

Military service

Service number
O-703870
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Navigator
Unit
850th Bombardment Squadron,
490th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
5 July 1944
Place of death
Lagny-le-Sec, France

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Epinal
Plot Row Grave
B 14 15

Immediate family

Members
Mitchell G. Brace (father)
Maude E. (Booker) Brace (mother)
Mitchell J. Brace (brother)
Norma Brace (sister)
Lorraine T. Brace (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-50386
Data
Type: B-24H
Nickname: Boots
Destination: France
Mission: Airdrop of weapons
MACR: 6991

More information

2nd Lt Richard J. Brace attended Lafayette High School and was employed as a production clerk for E. L. DuPont de Nemours & Co. before he enlisted in Buffalo, New York on 29 October 1942.

The aircraft was shot down by an Me-110 night fighter approximately 35 miles south of Paris on the morning of 5 July. It exploded and crashed at 0200hrs at a spot known locally as Les Trois Mares in Lagny-Le-Sec, France.

All eight crew members were killed.

He was first buried at the Temporary American Military Cemetery in Solers, France.

Source of information: Peter Schouteten, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Kurek Family Tree, www.fold3.com – MACR, www.findagrave.com – Russ Pickett, www.newspapers.com – Buffalo Courier Express - 8 May 1944

Photo source: www.findagrave.com - Andy / Sarah Jane Gabig, Michel Beckers / The Carpetbagger Photographic Archives