Secretary of War, Henry Stimpson, awarding SSG. Maynard Smith the Medal of Honor

 

Smith quickly became known for his stubborn and obnoxious attitude and it took six weeks for him to be assigned to his first combat mission. Although there is no specific reason to account for this delay, it is most likely due to his difficult nature that made bomber crews wary of him.  Most crews trained together and gelled into a unit focused on teamwork and Smith did not conform to this structure.  His first combat mission finally took place on May 1, 1943 and their target for the day was submarine pens at St. Nazaire, France.  Snuffy Smith was assigned as the ball turret gunner to a veteran crew.  The bomb run was fairly uneventful and they got their bombs on target.  On the way back, the lead navigator made an error and took the bomber stream right over the flak guns at Brest, France.  Smith's B-17 was hit by anti aircraft and enemy fire in the fuel tanks, which set the mid-section of the plane on fire.  The top turret gunner attempted to assess the damage to the radio room but was unable to make it through the wall of fire.  The interphone was damaged and the pilot was unable to communicate with the 5 gunners at the rear of the plane.  With the controls on the ball turret damaged, Smith got himself out of the ball to find the fire raging in the radio room and another towards the tail of the plane.  The radio operator and two waist gunners determined that the ship was going down and decided to bail out, which left Smith all alone.

Smith grabbed the fire extinguisher and began to try to put out the fire in the radio room. As he was battling the flames, he saw movement coming from the rear of the plane and realized it was the tail gunner, who was burnt and shot through the chest, which had damaged his left lung.  Smith pulled the tail gunner out of the flames and gave him a shot of morphine, then went back to fire fighting.  Their B-17 was continually attacked by Focke Wulf 190s and every time one would come in for a pass, Smith would drop the fire extinguisher and man the waist guns to shoot back, alternating between fire fighting, defending the plane, and administering first aid to the wounded tail gunner.  He made his way into the radio room where ammunition was burning.  The subsequent explosions made holes in the fuselage, so Smith began to toss burning ammunition out of the holes to prevent further damage to the aircraft.  Once the extinguishers ran out, Smith poured water bottles and the urine can onto the flames and then began to use his hands and feet to smother the remaining fire.  When another FW 190 began harassing the plane, Smith "let him have it" and the FW left them alone.  After an hour and a half of terrifying flak, enemy fighter attacks, and two raging fires inside the plane, they were finally in sight of England where the pilot landed the damaged B17 at the first base he saw. 

Everyone on board was amazed to have made it back alive.  There were over 3500 bullet and shrapnel holes in their plane.  The prop, flaps, and left wing's gas tanks were destroyed, the nose was shattered, and the radio room decimated.  Smith's pilot, Lt. Lewis P. Johnson, credited Smith with saving their plane and said, "acts which, by the will of God alone, did not cost him his life, performed in complete self-sacrifice and the utmost efficiency and which were solely responsible for the return of the aircraft and the lives of everyone aboard."  Smith simply stated that he did as he was trained and just wanted to get back home.

Lt. Johnson nominated Smith for the Medal of Honor and Smith became the first enlisted man to be a recipient.  Secretary of War Henry Stimpson was to place the medal around Smith's neck while General Ira Eaker and other top 8th Air Force officials looked on.  There was a moment of panic when time for the ceremony came and Smith was nowhere to be found - he eventually turned up in the kitchen where he was on KP duty for staying out past curfew.  Smith was quickly cleaned up and paraded out where he was presented his medal.  Andy Rooney was the first to interview Smith and he became something of a national celebrity as the flawed hero.  He relished the attention and continued to be disagreeable and difficult, and after four more missions was given a desk job until he was finally sent back to the States and honorably discharged.

Both Longhi and Joseph were injured.  Longhi's leg had been hit by flak and Joseph had flak injuries as well as extensive burns on his face, head and hands.  The Germans loaded both men into the same ambulance and took them to the Luftwaffe airfield hospital near Braunschweig where a German physician and nurses provided medical treatment.  Next the two POWs went by train to Dulag Luft at Frankfort am Main for interrogation, German dog tags and POW papers.  The severity of their injuries sent them to the POW hospital at Obermassfeld.  Joseph received treatment for his burns including skin grafts, and both he and Longhi stayed until well enough to be moved to a regular Stalag Luft.  Joseph went to Stalag Luft III and endured the rigors of POW life and a forced march.  His liberation came on 29 April 1945 at Stalag VII-A in Moosburg, Germany. 

Longhi found himself sent to Stalag Luft I.  Here he, too, experienced the hardship of POW life.  In late April 1945 the Russians were advancing toward Barth from the east while American and British forces were coming from the west.  Once the German guards were certain that the Russians would liberate the camp, the Germans slipped away after dark on the night of 29 April 1945.  As Senior Allied Officer, Colonel Zemke had prepared for this event by appointing men to be his "Field Force" to help keep everyone safe until all were back in American or British hands.  On the morning of 1 May 1945, the POWs awoke and saw other POWs in all the guard towers with "FF" armbands.  Zemke announced that the POWs were not to leave the camp but to wait for transport.  That same day the 2nd White Russian Front of the Red Army liberated these POWs.  Then on the 12th, 13th and 14th of May an 8th Air Force airlift flew approximately 9,000 ex-POWs to American and British control.  As Longhi waited for the airlift, he found his POW identification papers and a key to Stalag Luft I.  The key stayed with him until his death in 2010.  Later his family donated it to this museum.  Here it serves as a symbolic reminder of the value a former POW placed on regaining his freedom.   

The key Harrison Longhi found and kept from Stalag Luft I.  The Longhi family recently donated it to this museum.

Article Courtesy of Savannah Morning News.

The conversation is always lively. We catch up on what's happening in each other's lives - blow off some steam when it has been a particularly hard day and plan our strategy for the days to come. It is a great time of bonding my team together into a family.

When we opened at Mitsubishi, we brought the tradition with us. It was a little awkward at first. I guess people aren't used to their boss sitting down and having lunch with them. The conversation is different, too. At the museum most of the staff is married with children - many of them with grown children. At Mitsubishi, the staff is a little younger for the most part. I realized the other day how young they were. I told them to "go ahead and help your plate." They all just looked dumbfounded. I had to explain to them that I meant fix your plate. Not one of them had ever heard of "helping your plate." I just shook my head and thought "kids!"

It's not just them, though. Steve still picks on me for saying "dip your plate" or "Let me dip it up." Apparently that is a Southern thing. I'm not really sure what they say in the North but in the South we're helping, dipping and fixing our plates and that's just the way it is.

I guess to some my vocabulary is odd. I get the strangest looks when I tell someone to cover something in "tin foil." I don't care that aluminum foil emerged in 1910 - it's still tin foil to me. I cook a "mess of greens" and only use one syllable to say the word "boil." And sometimes I have "more problems than Carter's has Liver Pills."

My vocabulary and sayings reflect the language of my ancestors. The way we talk is as much a part of our heritage as the foods we eat. I feel sorry for these young ones. Their vocabulary is boring and unpronounceable. Since they have to force every conversation to fit on the screen of a little phone they have quit using words. Their vocabularies consist of acronyms such as OMG, LOL and BRB. How do you pass down acronyms?

So I'll try to carry on with my broad vocabulary and educate as many of these young whippersnappers that I can. Bless their little hearts, they are stuck to those phones like white on rice, but maybe, just maybe, our lunches will give them cause to put them down and actually carry on a conversation - even if it is only to ask me to decipher what I just said.

Here's a good fall recipe to help your plate with. Pork seems to beg for sweet apples this time of the year and this is a perfect - quick recipe to join the two together.

Teri Bell is co-owner of Miss Sophie's Marketplace at the Mighty Eighth in Pooler. Go to sophiesmarketplace.com.

FALL SAUSAGE & RICE

1 pound ground sausage

1 apple, peeled & chopped

½ small onion, chopped

3 cups cooked rice

1/3 cup chopped parsley

1 tablespoon brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large skillet, cook the sausage, apple, onion and celery until meat is no longer pink. Drain. In the same skillet or a large bowl, stir in the rice, parsley, brown sugar and allspice. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust to your taste. Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole and bake for 30 minutes.