Australian WWII pilot to be finally buried at Normandy

[Feuer Frei!]

AN Australian World War II pilot whose Spitfire was discovered more than six decades after he was forced to ditch into a French river will at last be buried with full military honours. Flight Lieutenant Henry "Lacy" Smith, 27, from Sydney, was hit by enemy fire and crash-landed his plane in the River Orne on June 11, 1944, just five days after the D-Day landings.
The aircraft and Flt Lt Smith's remains were recovered in November last year by the operator of a French war museum.
The former loom tuner, who learnt to fly as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme in Australia and Canada, will be buried at the Ranville war graves cemetery in Normandy, northern France, tomorrow.
"According to the story given to us, his fuel tanks were holed by anti-aircraft fire," Mr Dostine told AAP.
"He wasn't on fire or anything. He was losing fuel madly. He was radioing, 'I've been hit, I'm going to put her down'. And he put her down on what we would say he assumed to be a big, green flat. It turned out to be swampy river bed and the aircraft slid along and into the Orne River.
"Two others (pilots) flying with him saw what happened. When he hit the ground and slid along into the river, they flew ... past and saw that the plane's nose had gone down and tipped over and was nose down in the river. There was very little likelihood of him having survived because the cockpit was underwater. And there he stayed for 60 years."


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RIP, SIR!

[Fish In The Water]

Good read, thanks for the post!

[Gerald]

RIP Sir!

[HunterICX]

Finally got the rest he deserves, rest in peace sir.

HunterICX

[Jimbuna]

~SALUTE~

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

Requiescat in pace ~SALUTE~

[Feuer Frei!]

A LONE spitfire has rumbled through the peaceful French skies in a fitting final farewell to World War II Flight Lieutenant Henry Lacy Smith, an Australian pilot shot down above Normandy. Hundreds of people, including Lieutenant Smith's Australian relatives, official guests and local school children gathered at Ranville War Graves Cemetery today for a full military burial some 67 years after the 27-year-old's death.
"How about that?" Lt Smith's nephew Dennis Lacy Dostine said of the Spitfire flyover.
"I heard it and looked up and then, to see it and hear those pistons pumping, what an amazing tribute to our Lacy."
Lt Smith's spitfire was hit by an anti-aircraft offensive on June 11, 1944.
"I'm going to put this thing down in a field," he radioed after being hit.
But presumably what he thought would be a soft landing surface turned out to be a canal and his aircraft skidded and flipped into the River Orne where it remained for more than 60 years.
he Spitfire was found and Lt Smith's remains recovered last November, leading to today's re-internment."Although his remains are buried here in France, his memory and legacy live on in Australia," Chief of Air Force, Air Marshall Mark Binskin said.
A volley of shots were fired after the remains were lowered, to be buried beneath a headstone reading: "Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings".
Today's proceedings came to a standstill as the English spitfire, appropriately piloted by a British 'Squadron Leader Smith', made four passes of the cemetery.
His descendants recall stories of the lieutenant, the excellent sportsman and snappy dresser, known for his "bravery, larrikin character, his love of country and sense of adventure".
"From today, we have a grave site and a grave stone - a place for members of our family to visit and remember," great nephew Garth Chapman said during a eulogy on the family's behalf.
Defence Personnel and Veterans' Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon, who attended today's burial, said the wreckage of Lt Smith's spitfire will be returned to Australia.
"It is currently still under water ... It will be taken up and we will be moving it to Point Cook, the RAAF base in Australia," he told reporters after the burial.
"It will be curated properly so it will be forever a memory of this great pilot."
Lt Smith has been posthumously awarded five medals including the War Medal, Australian Service Medal, Air Crew Europe Star, the Defence Medal and 1939-1945 Star.




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[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

Today's proceedings came to a standstill as the English spitfire, appropriately piloted by a British 'Squadron Leader Smith', made four passes of the cemetery.

Seems a fitting tribute...

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

"From today, we have a grave site and a grave stone - a place for members of our family to visit and remember," great nephew Garth Chapman said during a eulogy on the family's behalf.

Very important for the family...

Good to hear they received some closure after all these years. Rest in peace and thank you Lt Smith for your service and sacrifice.

[TarJak]

~S~

RIP