Monday, June 06, 2011

Small memorials for great men


The last picture of them.

With its port engine hanging following an anti-aircraft hit, the PBJ of First Lieutenant Glenn W. Smith (BuNo 35143) goes down over Tobera on 5 May 1944. The aircraft crashed a short time later killing all seven of the crew. The aircraft's wreckage was located in 1949 and the remains of at least one crewmen was recovered and returned to the United States for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. During the late 1990s the site was rediscovered and yielded additional remains. In 2000 these remains were also recovered and returned to the United States for burial. Photograph: U.S. Marine Corps (Courtesy of J.W. Leggio)
More about Marine Bombing Squadron 413 here.