robert emerson smitherman
Second
Lt. Robert E. Smitherman, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. E.
Smitherman, 3751 Fairfield avenue, has been missing in action since
Feb. 3 over Germany, a War department telegram informed his parents
yesterday.
He was a fighter pilot based in France. He had been overseas about five months and in action about two months.
Lieutenant Smitherman was a junior at Washington and Lee university when he entered the Air Forces in the spring of 1943. He was commissioned six months ago.
He is one of four brothers. The others are: Capt. J. E. Smitherman, Jr., Air Forces officer at Seymour Johnson field, N. C.; Lt. G. Scott Smitherman, Air Forces, and Eugene Smitherman, a navy student in Chicago.
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2 June 1948:
The body of Lt. Robert Smitherman, son of James E. Smitherman, 3751 Fairfield avenue, and the late Mrs. Smitherman, will arrive in Shreveport from France today and will be reburied in Forest Park cemetery.
Lt. Smitherman was reported missing and later killed in action after the P-47 he was flying over Germany failed to return Feb. 3, 1945.
A simple graveside service will be conducted by the Rev. M. E. Dodd, pastor of the First Baptist church, at 5 p.m. today. Lt. Smitherman will be buried beside the grave of his mother.
There will be no military escort at the service except the one soldier who accompanies the body from the Memphis General Depot of the American graves registration division.
Lt. Smitherman's body was sent to America from St. Avold cemetery, a United States military cemetery at Metz, France.
Records of the war department indicate that Lt. Smitherman was last seen on Feb. 3, 1945, near Frieburg, Germany, now called South Baden. He was flying a P-47, a one-man fighter plane.
After the war, the graves registration service located an isolated grave at Untermunstertahl-Mulheim, Germany. The remains were identified as those of Lt. Smitherman by laundry marks and by the manifest number on the machinegun buried with him. The body was reburied in St. Avold cemetery on Aug. 19, 1946.
He was buried in St. Avold cemetery on the same day that his mother, the late Mrs. Ina T. Smitherman, was buried in Shreveport. She had died the day before in her sleep. Her health had been failing since the day she received word that her son was missing in action.
He was a fighter pilot based in France. He had been overseas about five months and in action about two months.
Lieutenant Smitherman was a junior at Washington and Lee university when he entered the Air Forces in the spring of 1943. He was commissioned six months ago.
He is one of four brothers. The others are: Capt. J. E. Smitherman, Jr., Air Forces officer at Seymour Johnson field, N. C.; Lt. G. Scott Smitherman, Air Forces, and Eugene Smitherman, a navy student in Chicago.
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2 June 1948:
The body of Lt. Robert Smitherman, son of James E. Smitherman, 3751 Fairfield avenue, and the late Mrs. Smitherman, will arrive in Shreveport from France today and will be reburied in Forest Park cemetery.
Lt. Smitherman was reported missing and later killed in action after the P-47 he was flying over Germany failed to return Feb. 3, 1945.
A simple graveside service will be conducted by the Rev. M. E. Dodd, pastor of the First Baptist church, at 5 p.m. today. Lt. Smitherman will be buried beside the grave of his mother.
There will be no military escort at the service except the one soldier who accompanies the body from the Memphis General Depot of the American graves registration division.
Lt. Smitherman's body was sent to America from St. Avold cemetery, a United States military cemetery at Metz, France.
Records of the war department indicate that Lt. Smitherman was last seen on Feb. 3, 1945, near Frieburg, Germany, now called South Baden. He was flying a P-47, a one-man fighter plane.
After the war, the graves registration service located an isolated grave at Untermunstertahl-Mulheim, Germany. The remains were identified as those of Lt. Smitherman by laundry marks and by the manifest number on the machinegun buried with him. The body was reburied in St. Avold cemetery on Aug. 19, 1946.
He was buried in St. Avold cemetery on the same day that his mother, the late Mrs. Ina T. Smitherman, was buried in Shreveport. She had died the day before in her sleep. Her health had been failing since the day she received word that her son was missing in action.