This would be the first Medal of Honor presented to a living Airman, the first awarded to an Airman for heroism in the European theater, the first awarded to an enlisted Airman and the first Medal of Honor to be presented by the Secretary of War in the theater of action.ĭuring the preparation of the ceremony, leadership failed to inform Smith of the presentation, which lead to an embarrassing moment for everyone involved. Ten minutes after we landed, the plane collapsed."įor his actions, Smith was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by the Secretary of War Henry L. There was nothing but the four main beams holding it together. "The plane was riddled with about 3,500 bullet holes. "Somehow we got the plane back," Smith said. Alternating between manning the available machine guns, applying first aid to his comrade and fighting the fire that had began to weaken the B-17's fuselage, Smith commenced to throw everything out of the rear of the plane that wasn't too hot, too heavy or bolted down.īecause of his heroic efforts and saving the lives of six remaining wingmen, the aircraft made it out of the 'hot' zone and landed safely near the southwest tip of England. With a fire onboard burning violently and melting everything in sight, Smith wrapped himself in protective clothing and completely extinguished the flames by hand. With the oxygen system and intercom shot, and crew members bailing out, Smith stayed aboard and assisted an injured tail gunner. The radioman became excited and jumped out the window without a parachute. "I manually cranked the thing around, opened the armored hatch and got back in the airplane when I saw it was on fire. "At this point, I had lost my electrical controls and I knew something was wrong," said Smith. The aircraft suffered from severe damage, cutting the wing tank off and causing gasoline to pour inside the plane catching it ablaze. In the heat of combat, he also manned machine guns desperately throwing exploding ammunition overboard. When his aircraft was hit repeatedly by flak and cannon fire from FW-190s, Smith stepped up to the plate rendering first aid to the wounded crewmen. Nazaire, France, better known to bomber crews as 'Flak City.' Smith's small physique made him perfect for the position in the ball gunner turret. On May 1, 1943, stepping in as a replacement, his mission was to bomb St. In the days where B-17's had a 50 percent survival rate, Smith went out on his first mission and significantly made history. Since this field was the quickest route to gaining rank, Smith was promoted to staff sergeant after completion of training and assigned to the 423rd Squadron, 306th Bomb Group in Turleigh, England. Smith shocked his basic training instructors by volunteering for Aerial Gunnery School in Harlington, Texas. in handcuffs," quotes author/researcher Allen Mikaelian.Īt the age of 31, Smith hated taking orders from men who were usually 10 years younger than him. While we were lining up, the sheriff came down the steps with Maynard Smith beside him. "When I went into the Army, a group of 30 of us assembled on the courthouse steps for a picture. A failure to pay child support charges caused the judge to offer Smith two options: jail or the military. He lived off of an inheritance and worked as a tax field agent until his misconducts caught up with him. He was the son of a school teacher and a successful attorney, and had the reputation early in life as being spoiled, trouble prone, and an absolute nuisance to others around him. Maynard Smith was born in the small town of Caro, Mich., on May 19, 1911. The term 'Airman Snuffy' has been a part of traditional jargon used by Military Training Instructors to describe bad troops on the verge of trouble, but many people don't know that Airman Snuffy actually existed-and he was the first enlisted member to receive the Medal of Honor. Editor's Note: This is part four of an eight-part series that highlights some of the men and women who have been influential in the early history of the United States Air Force.
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