My father’s name was Paul Francis Smith.
He was in the Army Air Corp and was a Doolittle Raider. He flew out of Africa. Dad and his brother went in at the same time. His brother went to England and Dad trained in the states. The picture shows me with my father as a little girl. The third picture shows my daughter and son. My daughter’s son was on deployment when this picture was taken.
During WWII, Dad flew 51 missions. I have all of his diaries, which I found after he passed away at age 94 years of age 6 years ago. I do know some stories he has told me. I have the stories of his time, of everyday raids on Italy, to clear the way for the 8th army to come through and how he was almost shot down. He encountered his first intense flack barrage over the Salerno Marshalling Yard on August 19th. His formation had to fly their way through a wave of enemy fighters to bomb the Marshalling Yards. There were 40 to 100 fighters attacking from all angles but once again the bombers scored decisive hits on the target area.
The name of his plane was “Happy Daze” and sometimes during take off she would blow a tire but they went any way. There were times when they left on formation flying together and there were about 30 planes but only maybe 18 would return. He would tell me about his friends who never came back but he always showed respect for them and would send flowers to their family.
Dad was originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and became a policeman when he got out of the military. He was a city policeman for 35 years. I was a military wife. My husband served in the military for 24 years. He was still on active duty when he passed. We were on orders to go to Italy, but we never made that assignment.
I miss you Dad. I wish I had spent more time to know more about you but you know how it is to be a kid. …
~ Joyce Kilday
We are very thankful to Joyce for sharing her story with Comes A Soldier’s Whisper veteran tribute page and invite you to share your service photos and a memory of your wartime experience.
STORY LINK: medium.com/…/dad-was-a-wwii-doolittle-raider-b12cc0…
God Bless all who keep us safe.
FOLLOW OUR VETERAN TRIBUTES:
www.facebook.com/ComesASoldiersWhisper
www.instagram.com/soldierswhisper24/
twitter.com/SoldiersWhisper
www.JennyLasala.com
