Delmar Ernest Smith was born in Salamanca, Cattaraugus County, New York, on 21 May 1921 the first of two children of Manley McKinley Smith (1 Mar 1897 - 15 Sep 1949, aged 52) and Lara Leota Bonsteel Smith (5 Nov 1897 - 9 Nov 1988, aged 91). Delmar Smith had one younger sister, Leota Ella Smith Reasor (22 Mar 1929 - 19 Feb 2019, aged 89).

Delmar and his sister grew up and were educated in and around the Cattaragus County area. Upon completion of his initial schooling Delmar found employment as a baker and completed one year of college in Passaic, New Jersey

On 22 Jul 1942 Delmar enlisted in the US Army Air Corps in Newark, New Jersey with the rank of Airman Recruit, Service Number: 32450700 and was sent to Jefferson Barracks, located on the Mississippi River at Lemay, Missouri, south of St. Louis. for basic and training. At the conclusion of basic training Pvt. Smith was sent for additional training to various training areas as part of his MOS (Military Occupational Speciality) as a Radio Operator.

In late 1942 T/Sgt. Smith was sent overseas where he was stationed with the 9th Air Force in the Middle East.

On 1 Aug 1943 Capt. James A. Gunn Jr. (O-791098) was assigned to Pilot Aircraft Model B-24D, Serial Number 42-40364 Aircraft Letter: P, Aircraft Name: “SNOW WHITE” along with his crew:

1st/Lt. Richard C. Williamson Co Pilot (O-736444)

1st/Lt. Bernard E Leimbach Navigator (O-730276)

2nd/Lt. Robert E. Courtney Bombardier (O-736686)

T/Sgt. Edwin L. Turner Engineer (16038208)

T/Sgt.Delmar E. Smith Radio Op. (32450700)

S/Sgt.Charles R. Ruark Gunner (16098271)

S/Sgt.Frederick Stukey Gunner (38178660)

S/Sgt. Stanley Myron Horine, Gunner (19100012) (Survived the crash of “Snow White”)

Their mission was clear: Briefed to fly in the 3rd wave attacking “White IV” at Ploesti, from Berka II at Libya with the 98th BG. (Bomb Group). “Operation Tidal Wave”, an attack on the Ploesti Oil Fields in Romania. After dropping her ordnance, “SNOW WHITE” turned to clear the area, however, Capt. Gunn dropped to aid “THE WITCH” of Lt. Darlington. During the withdrawal from Ploesti, they were intercepted by Bulgarian ME-109 at 13:40 hrs. “SNOW WHITE” was claimed shot down by Lt. Peter Bochev of the Bulgarian AF. Captain Gunns ship took fire on the fuselage and crashed in the mountainous area NE of Skopje at Brod (today Macedonia). Only SSgt S. Horine, who was badly burned, managed to bail out. Ssgt. Horine survived, but was taken prisoner of war. Captain James Albion Gunn died in action during “Operation Tidal Wave” in Romania.

On 3 August 1943 a SAR (search and rescue) mission was sent from Libya to search for Capt. Gunn, his crew. The aircraft performed SAR patterns over the estimated crash site at 500 feet AGL (minimum safe altitude) returning with no results to Libya.

Thanks to Lt. Quigley the Bombardier on Lt. Darlington’s, “THE WITCH” crew for whom Jim Gunn and his crew gave their lives, the “SNOW WHITE” crewman’s remains were located and re-interred with full Military Honors in a common grave at Arlington National Cemetery, Sec: 15, Site: 107, 1 Memorial Avenue, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, 22211.

T/Sgt. Delmar Ernest Smith was posthumously Awarded the Following:

Purple Heart

Distinguished Flying Cross

Air Medal

World War II Victory Medal

American Campaign Medal

Army Presidential Unit Citation

Army Good Conduct Medal

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign

All Gave Some - Some Gave All

References:

Ancertry.com

Newspapers.com

Findagrave.com

Wikipedia

U.S. Census Records

U.S. Military Records

Honor States

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars, Arlington National Cemetery Project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Together We Served.. Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. We welcome volunteers to help write these stories.

Smith, Delmar Ernest, TSgt