THE HEROIC STORY OF MAYNARD HARRISON "SNUFFY" SMITH OF CARO.

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Maynard Harrison “Snuffy” Smith of Caro, MI, a U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sergeant, was awarded  the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary actions near Brest, France, on May 1, 1943.


Smith enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942 and volunteered for aerial gunnery school. He then joined the 423rd Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bomb Group. 

Related: This is an unbelievable Story of a man and his wife who committed an adultery.


During his first mission, on May 1, 1943, Staff Sergeant Smith, assigned to the ball gun turret, helped save the lives of six of his wounded comrades, put out a blazing fire, and drove off wave after wave of German fighters.


The mission's target was the U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire in Loire-Atlantique, France, on the Bay of Biscay.


Several bombers failed to rendezvous as intended, and others had mechanical problems and turned back. The middle portion of the mission went well, with no German fighters engaging in the mission until after they had released their bomb loads on target. As the fighters came up, the bombers managed to elude them by flying into a large cloud bank.


After being in the cloud bank, the lead plane's navigator believed he was approaching the south coast of Britain.  They were  approaching the heavily fortified French city of Brest. The pilot descended to 2,000 feet and was immediately met with German fighters and intense anti-aircraft fire.


Staff Sergeant Smith's bomber was hit, rupturing the fuel tanks and igniting a massive fire in the fuselage. The damage knocked out communications and compromised the fuselage's integrity. Smith's ball turret lost power, and he scrambled to assist the other crew members. Three crew members bailed out while Smith tended to two seriously wounded others. 


For nearly 90 minutes, Smith alternated between shooting at attacking fighters, tending to the wounded and fighting the fire. To starve the fire of fuel, he threw burning debris and exploding ammunition through large holes that the fire had melted in the fuselage. Smith put the fire out entirely by hand.

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