In early 1940, Percy married Mary Maxine Cooke in Okaloosa County, FL. They were living with Percy's parents in Andalusia, AL when the 1940 census was taken that April. Percy was working as a butcher, and continued to do so until enlisting as a private in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Fort McClellan, AL on April 27, 1942.

Percy was a waist gunner on a B-17 in the 422nd Squadron, 305th "Can Do" Bombardment Group, based in England. At this time in the war the British were flying their bombing raids at night, while U.S. raids were flown in daylight - unescorted by any Allied fighter planes. These daytime bombing missions were costly and Percy's bomber was one of the casualties - shot down over Brittany, France.

Parts of this story were derived from U.S. government records. The vast majority, however, was taken from documentation reported by the Association Bretonne du Souvenir Aerien, a group of French WWII-era aviation enthusiasts whose goal is to provide a complete list of all aircraft losses in Brittany, whether Allied or enemy. The association's web site states they have collected testimonies of eyewitnesses, visited crash sites, recovered pieces of aircraft, and reconstructed the history of the crews and their missions in order to tell the story of the young men "who mostly came to die or fall on our soil." Here is Percy's story:

Saturday, May 29, 1943, the weather was excellent. On English airfields, 169 Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers prepared for a bombing run on the German submarine base located at Saint-Nazaire on the southern coast of Brittany in occupied France. While 22 aircraft would abandon the mission en route due to technical causes, 147 reached their target.

As usual after takeoff the bombers moved into formation, quickly reaching an altitude of 25,000 feet. The B-17 with tail registration 42-29531 was piloted by 1st Lt. Marshall Peterson, age 24, a native of Virginia. Including the pilot, the crew consisted of 10 men who represented a cross-section of America.

The co-pilot was 2nd Lt. Harold Bentz, a 22-year-old Cleveland, Ohio native. 2nd Lt. Lawrence Mandelberg was the navigator; born in Canada, he had lived most of his 22 years in Los Angeles. The bombardier was 2nd Lt. Frank Perrica, born in Baltimore, Maryland. Technical Sgt. Joseph Freeborn, a native of Brooklyn, New York, was the radio operator.

The defense of the Flying Fortress was entrusted to five men armed with 50-caliber submachine guns.

Overlooking the bomber in the top turret was Staff Sgt. Hilton Hilliard, a native of Georgia. He was also the flight engineer. Below the plane in the ball turret, armed with two machine guns, was Staff Sgt. Peter Milasius from Chicago. Lying in the tail of the aircraft was Staff Sgt. Salvador Tafoya, a native Californian. He, too, had two machine guns.

B-17s carried two waist gunners; each protected his respective side of the aircraft. In the right waist gunner position was Technical Sgt. George Smith, another Californian. On the left, Staff Sgt. Percy Clayton Mathews from Covington County, Alabama. The waist gunners had flak helmets, flak suits and an armor plate contoured to the curve of the fuselage below the windows as their only protection. Standing at their guns, their bodies filled a larger target area than was the case for the rest of the crew, who were sitting or kneeling. As a result, waist gunners incurred the largest number of casualties of all the Flying Fortress crew positions.

Over their target at last, the bombardier dropped his 8.8 tons of bombs on the objective. Suddenly it's hell - a deluge of fire emerged from the ground. The Germans have unleashed their artillery. The shells were pouring in from everywhere, hitting the aircraft in multiple places. Engine number 3 was reported to be losing oil profusely. Despite this, the bomber stayed in formation.

One of the waist gunners reported over the intercom that engine number 4 was smoking badly. Sgt. Milasius later cited in his report that the pilot called to get more information, but no one answered. Milasius, equipped with an oxygen bottle, immediately went to see what was happening. He found that Smith and Mathews had had their headphones cut, and they were busy strapping on their parachutes.

Milasius said the plane began to shake so violently from the force of the flak that he thought he'd be ejected. His report then states that Sgt. Mathews had fallen to the floor.

The aircraft by this time had turned around with the other bombers to head back to base. The pilot gave orders for an emergency evacuation as the situation was getting worse. It had become increasingly difficult to hold the plane on course.

Sgt. Smith, wearing his parachute, was sitting at the side door, hesitant. Milasius said he had to push Smith out. Suddenly the plane began to spiral downward; dense smoke filling the interior. Sgt. Mathews was still lying, unmoving, on the floor in the rear of the bomber.

After struggling to get to the door, Milasius finally jumped at an altitude of about 10,000 feet, his parachute opening at 3000 feet. He was the second to have left the plane, and could see seven white parachutes above him as he descended. The other crew members had quickly evacuated the disabled bomber.

Witnesses on the ground reported seeing a large bomber formation returning to England, flying at high altitude. It was about 3 p.m. local time, when suddenly they heard the sound of anti-aircraft fire. Moments later, a bomber trailing thick, black smoke slowly left the group while losing altitude.

One witness reported that as the aircraft began to spiral, he saw nine white parachutes. (There was one missing, that of the unfortunate Mathews). At mid-descent, a violent explosion was heard and the plane was cut in two. The front half fell like a rock to a valley near the village of Le Guern in Saint Bihy. The rear half, spiraling slowly down, landed near the village of Lande Allinto. In the tail lay the body of Sgt. Percy Mathews.

The pilot later reported that flak had completely pulverized the Plexiglas nose of the aircraft, and that the left wing and fuselage (Percy Mathews' side of the plane) had been pierced with multiple shrapnel. He also reported that engine number 3, on the inside right of the plane, had stopped right after Saint-Nazaire, likely hit by a shell.

Sgt. Smith, the first to have left the plane, was captured shortly after he touched down, near a road in the town of Quintin du Vieux Bourg. It was reported that the area was crawling with excited Germans, frantically searching for the downed American airmen. These Germans probably belonged to the 343rd Infantry Division, who at that time had been moving through the region from Saint Brieuc up to Morlaix.

They had a lot to do, as several Allied bombers had been shot down. There were four losses in Ille-et-Vilaine in northern Brittany and two in the Morbihan region in the south; five had fallen in the Côtes du Nord region, and now the B-17 leaving Saint-Nazaire. In the process, the Germans had lost 15 fighter planes, including 13 known to have been shot down over Brittany that day.

1st Lt. Peterson, the pilot, was captured by the Germans when his parachute touched the ground. Details of his imprisonment are unknown.

2nd Lt. Mandelberg was also immediately captured. He was sent to Stalag Luft 3 near the town of Sagan in the German province of Lower Silesia, which is now in Poland. (This Luftwaffe-run POW camp for Allied airmen is best known for two famous prisoner escapes that took place there by tunneling, which were depicted in the films "The Great Escape" and "The Wooden Horse.") Late in the war, following the advance of Russian troops on the eastern front, Mandelberg was sent to Stalag 13-D near Nuremberg, Germany. He and other POWs at this prison camp were liberated in April 1945 by advance elements of the U.S. Army.

2nd Lt. Bentz, the co-pilot, was flying his ninth mission. After jumping from the plane, he lost his escape kit containing the precious silk map and money that could have aided him in eluding capture. He landed in a field where people were working but they did not pay him any attention.

Bentz began walking south and in the evening decided to find a hiding place to spend the night. It overlooked a small road and suddenly he saw three German soldiers marching below him. Fortunately, they did not see him. Having narrowly escaped capture, he decided to resume his walk through woods and forests. Late that night he was very tired, and decided to rest in a thicket.

On Sunday, May 30, the day dawned and Bentz was startled awake by several locals, including a French farmer who explained that he had worked as a youth in Missouri. Bentz followed him to a farm, where he was given civilian clothing and a small sum of money to buy food. Bentz then left on foot and in the evening arrived in the Mur de Bretagne region where he was intercepted by a French gendarme. Bentz was taken immediately to a castle where a lady spoke English. He remained hidden there for several days, waiting for help to reach Paris by train. Bentz was told that someone from the Red Cross would meet him there and hide him in his home near the northern railway station.

Bentz stayed several months in Paris, changing places regularly. One morning he was met by an agent of the Resistance, a former French aviator, who helped Bentz pass into Switzerland. He arrived in Bern on July 6, 1943 and was interned there for a year.

After the invasion of Normandy, Bentz and two other B-17 pilots escaped internment and crossed back into France. They joined some Resistance fighters and went with them on raids, once smashing a train carrying war goods. Finally, Bentz and the other pilots ran into American troops driving up from the Mediterranean. They were flown to Rome, then to Casablanca, Morocco and from there to England, returning in September, 1944.

After they landed, 2nd Lt. Perrica, Sgt. Milasius and Sgt. Tafoya received assistance from French locals who helped them escape capture. The three airmen were guided by smugglers across the Pyrenees, traveling on foot from Foix (in southwest France) through Andorra, and arriving in Manresa, Spain using a circuitous mountain route. They reached the British Consulate in Barcelona on July 25, 1943. From there they went to Gibraltar via Madrid, returning to England on August 16, 1943 - a journey of 79 days.

As mentioned previously, Sgt. Smith was immediately captured by the Germans upon landing. He was eventually sent to Stalag 17-B which was located near Krems, Austria on the Danube River. (This prison camp inspired the movie "Stalag 17" and the TV comedy "Hogan's Heroes.") Smith was finally released on June 9, 1945 after over two years of captivity.

Sgt. Hilliard suffered the same fate. He was quickly captured and imprisoned at Stalag 12 near Frankfurt, Germany. His captivity also lasted until the end of the war.

Sgt. Freeborn landed in the woods near a small village in Le Vieux-Bourg. His parachute, pushed by the wind, caught on the top of a fir tree whose branch broke. Freeborn fell violently onto a rock, breaking a leg and several ribs and seriously injuring his face.

A witness to the scene was a farmer, Leon Lemée. The farmer loaded the injured airman onto his cart, hiding Freeborn under the clover he was carrying. Upon arriving at his farm, he placed Sgt. Freeborn on his bed. The farmer then prepared to go in search of a doctor before it got too dark. However, the Germans (who had noticed the airman's landing from a distance) quickly found Freeborn after searching the village. Given his condition, they called an ambulance for him to be taken to a hospital. After his hospitalization, Freeborn was sent to Stalag 17-B where he met up again with Sgt. Smith. Freeborn was also released from captivity in June of 1945.

According to the other airmen, Sgt. Percy Clayton Mathews seemed to be unconscious, lying in the back of the plane. Presumably he was already dead, hit by shrapnel.

Reports indicate that the body of a dead airman was seen in the tail of the bomber by a lady who had been working in a nearby field at the time, arriving at the scene soon after it hit the ground. Immediately afterwards, the Germans surrounded the area and prevented people from approaching.

Because the Allies never found the body of Sgt. Mathews, his name was inscribed on a memorial wall known as the "Tablets of The Missing" at the American Military Cemetery in Cambridge, England.

French researchers later learned that Merot Augustine, a farmer in Le Vieux-Bourg, was requisitioned by the Germans to recover and transport the body of Sgt. Mathews. In the evening, Mr. Merot took the body of the sergeant in his horse-drawn cart and parked in the courtyard of his farm called "Kerfolben," where a German car came to fetch the mortal remains.

The French researchers documenting this story in November of 2012 then stated that no one knows where the Germans buried Sgt. Mathews. It was later discovered that Percy's body had been originally buried at a cemetery in St. Brieuc, France. Sometime prior to Sept. 16, 1944, a set of unidentified remains, designated "X-205 St. James," were disinterred from the St. Brieuc cemetery and re-interred in the American cemetery at St. James (present-day Brittany American Cemetery).

In May 2015, a French researcher, Daniel Dahiot, provided the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) with a page from the St. Brieuc West Cemetery burial register, showing the names of Americans who were interred there during World War II, including one "Perry Matthews." [Obviously there are slight spelling differences, but this can easily be explained as the burial and record keeping was done by another country.]

This new information led U.S. researcher Jed Henry to look for Percy's relatives in the hopes that DNA analysis could provide the confirmation needed to identify the remains. He and Percy's niece, Betty Mathews Unger, initiated the process with the DPAA in January, 2016, and several members of the Mathews family provided DNA samples.

On April 4, 2017, "X-205 St. James" was disinterred from Plot K, Row 11, Grave 18 at Brittany American Cemetery. Laboratory analysis was finally completed by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System, and the positive results communicated to the family in late March, 2018.

After 75 years, the remains of Staff Sgt. Percy Clayton Mathews were returned to his family and a burial with full military honors took place on June 28, 2018 at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, FL.

Although Percy's name is still recorded on the "Walls of the Missing" at the Cambridge American Cemetery in the United Kingdom, a rosette has been placed next to it to indicate that he has now been accounted for.

Percy C Mathews