My wife and I would like to honor the memory of her then 19 year old Uncle, Sgt. Francis A. Daly, United States 8th Air Force. This was a poster I put together for a dinner fundraiser for our local Castle Air Force Museum.
Francis and the crew were finishing a bomb run over Muenster when their B-17 was hit and broken in half by German artillery. The actual crash site was outside of Muenster near a Church. The members of the Church were very kind to remove the bodies of he crew from the wreckage and bury them in the Church cemetery. Following the war American graves registration's removed the bodies for internment at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.
Attachment 264803
The copy on the poster reads as follows:
"Their wings of silver touched the passing clouds, made soft white
trails across the azure blue. But not for them this life we share on earth.
They sacrificed that gift for me and you."
Francis A. Daly, Sergeant US Army Air Corps
Ball Turret Gunner
19 Years of age - 22 successful missions
Bomber shot down by German anti-aircraft at
at 12:00 pm October 28, 1944 while on a bombing
mission over Muenster Germany
Interred at the Ardennes American Cemetary in Belgium.
The Insignia on the poster are as follows:
Far Right: 396th Bomb Group (Heavy) Bomb Group Motto: Hell From Heaven
Center: United States 8th Air Force
Left: 602nd Bombardment Squadron
