PORTLAND, Ore. -- Patton’s Air Support in the advance across France
It was early August, 1944. Operation Cobra had unleashed Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.’s US Third Army, now on a rampage across war-torn France. Ninth Air Force provided tactical airpower in support of US armies in NW Europe, and the Ninth’s XIX Tactical Air Command (XIX TAC) was detailed to support Third Army. And thus, XIX TAC’s 371st Fighter Group was assigned to support Patton’s armored spearhead moving in a large counterclockwise maneuver south and then eastward over western France.
And in the 371st Fighter Group’s 405th Fighter Squadron, radio callsign Discharge, squadron aircraft fuselage code 8N, was a young lieutenant from San Antonio, Texas, Robert Anthony Mezzetti. Born on June 7, 1923, Robert was raised a Texan and completed his secondary education at Brackenridge High in 1940. He and his best friend Milton A. Seale joined the Texas National Guard on November 25, 1940, initially serving in an artillery unit of the 36th Texas Division.
They expected to be demobilized in late 1941 and return to school for a college degree after a year of service, but when Pearl Harbor was attacked, the US military had other plans and they were kept on duty for the duration. The two eventually went their separate ways after they both applied for and were selected for pilot training.
By early 1944, Mezzetti earned his wings and a commission as a second lieutenant. Lt. Mezzetti was sent overseas where he joined the 405th Fighter Squadron in England on May 18, 1944 according to the squadron’s S-2 (Intelligence Section) Diary. He was undoubtedly pleased to find his best friend Milton Seale was also assigned to the same squadron. There he began his part in the Allied liberation of Europe from fascism. Robert celebrated his 21st birthday the day after D-Day, the Allied landings in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.
The two lieutenants soon moved with their squadron and the 371st Fighter Group to France after the Allies established the beachhead in Normandy, to one of the first expeditionary airfields to open, Advanced Landing Ground A-6 at Sainte-Mère-Eglise. From A-6 they continued combat operations to support the expansion of the Normandy beachheads, the capture of Cherbourg, the fighting through the Bocage country and then Operation Cobra, the US Army’s breakout from the Normandy area in late-July. And now XIX TAC with the 371st Fighter Group and these two lieutenants helped secure Third Army’s flanks and provided armored column direct support as required.
More missions meant more combat, damaged aircraft, wounded men, lost planes and missing pilots. Lt. Seale later recalled, "Just a few days before it happened, we were lying in our bunks listening to the crystal radio receiver Robert had made. Out of the blue, he made a comment that I reprimanded him for. The night before, he had had a premonition that he would never see his house again."
August 2, 1944 in combat over France
Not long afterward, on Wednesday, August 2, the three fighter squadrons (404th, 405th and 406th) of the 371st Fighter Group were tasked with armored cover in support of Third Army’s spearhead unit, the 4th Armored Division, when it was in the vicinity of Rennes, headed south to Nantes to cut off German forces in the Brittany/Brest Peninsula to the west. (Note: The 4th Armored was the division that broke through the German cordon and relieved besieged Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge some five months later).
After a successful morning mission, Lt. Mezzetti flew again in the afternoon, and departed A-6 airfield at 1509 hours with 11 other pilots and P-47s of the 405th Fighter Squadron, led by the commander, Major Harvey L. Case, Jr. Eight P-47’s carried one 500-lb bomb each and four others provided escort, all armed with plenty of ammunition for each aircraft’s eight .50-caliber machine guns. The Discharge squadron headed out on a course of 200 degrees, reaching the Rennes area at the base of the Brittany/Brest Peninsula by 1540.
Lt. Mezzetti flew bomb-laden P-47D-20-RE serial number 42-76460 on the mission. His flight and the other dive bombers dropped eight 500-pounders on enemy gun positions and foxholes and they and/or the escorts strafed the same at coordinate Y 0554 after encountering enemy anti-aircraft artillery fire; moderate in intensity, accurate in aim, heavy-caliber flak fired from that location. The eight P-47s dived in from about 7,500 feet at 60 degrees in their descent, released their eight weapons at 2,500 feet and pulled out of their dives. Shortly after that, on egress from the target area at 1600, something went terribly wrong.
“…2 or 3 bursts of flak were very close…”
Capt. William A. McCormick, Jr. was Mezzetti’s flight leader that day and filed this statement on August 4 for what became Missing Air Crew Report 7930 (MACR 7930):
“I was leading Discharge yellow flight on an armored column support mission in the Rennes area, France. When Discharge squadron was 10 miles south of Rennes at 8,000 feet 10 to 12 puffs of heavy flak burst around yellow flight.
“I noticed that 2 or 3 bursts of flak were very close to Lt. Mezzetti who was flying in the yellow 2 position. Lt. Mezzetti did not call over the R/T that he had been hit; however, I noticed the gun positions that were firing at us by the muzzle flashes.
“I called in the position to discharge Leader. He immediately received permission to drop our bombs on the gun positions. I instructed my flight to dive bomb by elements and to hit the deck immediately after releasing the bombs. I did not observe any flak on the dive bombing run.
“Lt. Mezzetti and myself hit the deck immediately after the run and flew for about four minutes North on the deck. When we reached friendly territory I started a climbing turn to the left. As we reached approximately 1,000 feet, Lt. Mezzetti did a slow half roll to the right. He seemed to have a bit of trouble rolling out. Just as he got into level flight position I noticed his right bank of guns on fire. The plane immediately did a half snap-roll to the right and went straight down and crashed into the ground. The plane burst into flames and exploded.
“I did not see Lt. Mezzetti get out of the plane and did not see a parachute open.”
His funeral was held the next day in Liffré. Lt. Mezzetti was temporarily buried in the cemetery of the commune, before his body was transferred and then buried on August 12, 1944 at the American military cemetery of Saint-James, known today as the Brittany American Cemetery at St. James, France.
The 405th’s squadron history for August, 1944, completed the next month, had these terse lines about Lt. Mezzetti’s fate: “2d Lt Robert A. Mezzetti, MIA 2 August 1944 at Y-2366 (map coordinate)…We suffered another combat casualty in the loss of 2d Lt Robert A Mezzetti who was hit by flak and failed to bail out of his plane.” He had been with the squadron for 11 weeks. In his abbreviated combat career, he served in three military campaigns, including the Air Offensive, Europe and the Normandy and Northern France campaigns.
Robert A. Mezzetti was 21 years old, and survived by his father and four siblings. He was awarded the Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart. Lt. Mezzetti was credited with one aerial victory over an Me-109 fighter on June 20, 1944 near Evreux Airfield, France, and was one of six 405th Fighter Squadron pilots killed in action that month as Third Army battled its way across France. Three other pilots from the group died that month in France, as well as an enlisted man. The price of freedom is paid for in blood and treasure.
May 9, 2025 Memorial Dedication Ceremony at Liffré
Fast forward over 80 years to Friday, May 9, 2025 and to little Le Breil Rond, almost three miles south of the commune of Liffré, which is about 12 miles northeast of Rennes in the Ille-et-Vilaine Department of the Brittany Region of northwestern France. Two hundred people, mostly French citizens and some Americans, gathered under a fair sky to honor the memory of Lt. Mezzetti at the site where his Thunderbolt aircraft crashed in the summer of 1944.
Mayor Guillaume Bégué of Liffré paid tribute “…to a hero who gave his life for freedom and peace…” and “…a young and brave pilot…” who “…contributed to the liberation of our country.”
“May his sacrifice never be forgotten,” said M. Francis Guilard, president of the Union nationale des combatants (L’UNC) de Liffré, who remembered a “…young American military 21 years old…” who “…came to free our France from the German occupation.” (Note: The Union nationale des combatants (UNC) is a French association of veterans, established in 1918 after the First World War. It brings together those who have served France in uniform since World War I, the widows and war orphans and associated members.)
The French citizens were accompanied by 11 Mezzetti family members, and, from the U.S. Consulate for western France, the Honorable Consul, Ms. Emily Cintora. As light aircraft flew overhead in tribute to Lt. Mezzetti, she hailed “…a real American hero,” who “…came to fight the tyranny of Nazism.”
Mr. David Moyer, one of Lieutenant Robert Mezzetti’s nephews, traced the memory of “Uncle Robbie” for the audience. “Here we are today, gathered on a sacred place for the Mezzetti family. Words cannot describe and tell the scale of the meaning and, the importance of these commemorations as well as the fact of seeing you gathered here more than 80 years later to honor the memory of Robbie.”
In gratitude of Lt. Mezzetti’s sacrifice for freedom and the liberation of France, members of the Association Bretonne du Souvenir Aerien 1939-1945 (L’ABSA 39-45), an organization dedicated to the remembrance of the aircrew of all nations in combat over the Brittany and Pays de Loire regions of France in World War II, wanted to honor Robbie and the memory of other American aviators who gave their lives during the war in their region of France. And thus, the idea of a memorial to Lt. Mezzetti was conceived.
Lt. Mezzetti’s family members offered their 48-star American flag to Mayor Bégué, which was presented to the Mezzetti family by the US Government after his loss. Mr. Moyer presented it with these remarks: “As a token of our gratitude for all that you have done for our family to enable us to heal, for all the love you give us, for the generous efforts you have made and provided to honor Robbie's memory, for all the love you surround him with, the family of Lieutenant Robert Mezzetti wishes to make you, the inhabitants of Liffré, the guardians of the 48-star American flag. May you cherish it and preserve it as much as we have done.”
The eleven members of Robert Mezzetti's family, who had participated in local V-E Day commemorations on May 8, were to go on Saturday, May 10 about 30 miles to the north of Liffré. There is the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in the commune of Saint-James, Department of the Manche, Basse-Normandie region of France, where Lt. Mezzetti is buried, at Plot K, Row 9, Grave 9.
371st Fighter Group Personnel Interred in American Military Cemeteries in France
Several other 371st Fighter Group pilots are also buried at St. James, including fellow Discharge Squadron pilots 1st Lt. Ernest W. Leach and 1st Lt. Alvin M. Pollingue, and also from a sister squadron, 2nd Lt. John G. Weller (406th FS).
At the same cemetery, Capt. George D. Pieck (404th FS) and F/O William Gorman (405th FS) are remembered on the tablets of the missing – these P-47 pilots remain Missing in Action (MIA) to this day, long after their last combat mission.
And if one considers individual graves as memorials, there are 14 more men of the 371st Fighter Group buried at four other American military cemeteries in France. And the name of another on the tablets of the missing there too. This makes a total of 18 buried and three listed on the tablets of the missing from the 371st Fighter Group at these five cemeteries in France. They are honored regularly each Memorial Day.
Individual 371st Fighter Group Memorials in France
Of note, French citizens, museum staffs and people in voluntary service organizations have made significant efforts to establish individual memorials for 371st Fighter Group members killed in action at or near the locations of their losses. Some of the coordination between them is a marvel as they are ready to share information with each other, host and/or help family members of the fallen and visitors to see crash sites, memorials and museums which honor our fallen.
These memorials were not hastily established, and represent years, even a decade or more, of patient and persistent work. The untold hours, days and years of research to learn the details of the personnel being honored and outreach to create awareness of the efforts with family members, engagement with civic authorities for necessary permissions, not to mention the extensive coordination to make a proper dedication ceremony and realize a memorial effort.
Nor are the memorials static or ignored, as grateful citizens visit them on anniversaries to remember the fallen, and often serve as guides and interpreters for visiting family members, friends and those interested who wish to pay homage to these fallen warriors.
In addition to the new memorial at Liffré in honor of Lt. Mezzetti, we are aware of at least seven others individual memorials to 371st Fighter Group fallen warriors in France:
1st Lt. Robert A. Booth, 405th Fighter Squadron, was killed during an unusual aerial resupply mission flown in bad weather and poor visibility during an urgent effort to relieve the surrounded soldiers of the “Lost Battalion” of the US 36th Infantry Division on October 27, 1944. In the Vosges Mountains of eastern France, in the small town of Le Val d’Ajol, Vosges Department of the Grand Est Region, there is a stone memorial to this brave pilot.
2nd Lt. Bradley B. Clark, 406th Fighter Squadron, was killed near Tantonville Airfield, France on return with battle damage from enemy aircraft over Germany on December 23, 1944. A bronze plaque memorial to Lt. Clark (the older brother and only sibling of American Bandstand’s Dick Clark) is in Omelmont, a commune in the Meurthe-et Moselle Department in the Grand Est Region of north-eastern France honoring his ultimate sacrifice.
There is also a display about Lt. Clark at the Espace de Memoire Lorraine 39-45 in Vézelise, France, a museum dedicated to the memory of those who fought from 1939 to 1945 in the region. The museum’s website can be viewed here. M. Jerome Leclerc with the museum and other French citizens went to the Omelmont site and then to Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial near the commune of Dinozé-Quèquement, France to place flowers in honor Lt. Clark on the 80th anniversary of his loss, December 23, 2024.
1st Lt. Jack T. McWilliams, 405th Fighter Squadron, was lost on January 14, 1945 when his formation was attacked by German fighter planes. On November 11, 2023, a memorial plaque in his honor was dedicated in the commune at Kauffenheim, Bas-Rhin Department, Grand Est Region, France. M. Roger Keck was the driver of this effort and first reached out to the 142nd Wing in November, 2015 to give the reader an idea how long some memorial efforts take to be realized.
Members of the McWilliams family visited the area in November, 2024, and Mr. Keck arranged for a visit to the Espace de Memoire Lorraine 39-45 museum. To learn more about Lt. McWilliams memorial, see the 142nd Wing article “We as Allies Remember Jack T. McWilliams,” here.
2nd Lt. Alvin M. Pollingue, 405th Fighter Squadron, was shot down and killed on July 17, 1944 while strafing a train at low altitude east of La Fleche, at the commune of Vaas, Sarthe Department of the Pays de la Loire Region of France. In 2006, a plaque in his honor was mounted on a beige stone at the south end of Vaas near the southwestern approach to the bridge over the Loire River.
1st Lt. Harry W. Strahlendorf, 404th Fighter Squadron, was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire as American ground forces approached Cherbourg on June 24, 1944 flying P-47D Thunderbolt serial number 42-76345, named "Eddie Nor II" after his wife. In the town of Octeville near Cherbourg where he fell, “Square Strahlendorf” is dedicated in his memory.
1st Lt. John G. Weller, 406th Fighter Squadron, was shot down during an armed reconnaissance mission towards Lorient, France on August 9, 1944. A plaque remembering his sacrifice is affixed to the town memorial at Sévignac, Côtes-d'Armor Department, Bretagne Region northwest of Rennes, in front of the Église Saint Pierre (St. Peter's Church).
1st Lt. Henry Wieczorek, 406th Fighter Squadron, was killed in action on January 22, 1945 when his aircraft suffered a mechanical failure during a combat mission. In the Vosges Department of the Lorraine Region, in the commune of Mortagne, there is a memorial plaque to mark where he fell as he abandoned his stricken P-47 at too low an altitude to survive on that fateful day. It is emplaced on a wall outside the Mortagne churchyard on the east side of the village, at the Rue du Bout du Dessous road junction.
Details on the specific locations of these memorials in France, and others in Europe, with pictures and additional information can be found by performing a keyword search using “371st Fighter Group” in the database search feature on the American War Memorials Overseas, Inc. website, here.
A Forthcoming Memorial
At the time of this writing, there is at least one other active memorial effort underway by thoughtful French citizens which we are aware of, to honor the service and sacrifice of 1st Lt. William R. Lamb, 404th Fighter Squadron. Lt. Lamb was killed in action on January 14, 1945 near Xaronval Commune, Vosges Department, Grand Est Region of France when his battle-damaged P-47 went out of control as he neared the home field after he collided head-on with a German Me-109 and his P-47 lost a portion of one wing – the lighter German fighter was wrecked by the sturdier Thunderbolt in the collision, in the same aerial melee in which Lt. Jack T. McWilliams was shot down.
The Espace de Memoire Lorraine 39-45 museum also has some artifacts from that P-47 flown by Lt. Lamb on his fateful mission. M. Jérôme LeClerc faithfully carries on the effort to realize a memorial to Lt. Lamb, hopefully later this year. He keeps engaged with the 142nd Wing as the successor of the esteemed M. Roland Prieur, who first contacted the wing about Lt. Lamb in August, 2013.
M. Leclerc and others of the Espace de Memoire community of interest visited Lt. Lamb’s grave at the Epinal American Cemetery and then went to his crash site in Xaronval on January 14 this year, on the 80th anniversary of Lt. Lamb’s loss. This shows that grateful citizens in France remember and honor those who helped free their country from fascism in World War II. It is an expression of the amity and good will between French and American citizens which is often overlooked by the unaware.
Memorial Day, May 26, 2025
There are many others fallen warriors from the 142nd Wing whom we remember on Memorial Day, lost in conflict and in the line of duty during times of war and of peace. Our honored dead, 110 of them in all, are listed in the article “Who Remembers Whom? The 142nd Wing Remembers on Memorial Day 2023,” posted on the 142nd Wing website here.
This Memorial Day, we remember the service and sacrifice 2nd Lt. Robert A. Mezzetti on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. We commemorate the fateful service of the other 109 men of the 142nd Wing and its associated units who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation and to freedom in conflicts and places around the world since 1942.
May all Americans take a moment on this day to reflect on the freedom and liberty which they enjoy, enabled and protected on their behalf by the service and sacrifice of such citizens.
Postscript
Special thanks to M. Frédéric Hénoff of the Association Bretonne du Souvenir Aerien 1939 – 1945 (L’ABSA 39-45), who initially informed us of the Lt. Mezzetti memorial effort in November, 2021 (though research from France on Lt. Mezzetti dates back to at least 2011), contributed to the association’s effort to establish this memorial and kept up apprised of the May 9, 2025 dedication event. To learn more about ABSA 39-45, see their website here.
Especially recommended is the L’ABSA 39-45 memorial webpage for Lt. Mezzetti with additional photos and details on his life and flying career, here.
And special thanks to Chronique Republicaine Journalist M. Benoit Fouque, who covered this story and took photographs of the memorial dedication. M. Fouque wrote a fine pair of articles about Lt. Mezzetti and the memorial. He and his newspaper graciously allowed us to include quotes and photos from his memorial dedication article, titled “Près de Rennes, une stèle et un hommage à "un véritable héros américain" mort en 1944,” which you can see (in French) here.