Italy - Robert Spoonamore, 21, Elba Island, 5 Nov 1944

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http://www.lanazione.it/firenze/guerra-americani-impruneta-1.1437998

Impruneta (Florence), November 1, 2015 - A reminder "long" 71 years has led John Spoonamore to get on a plane and come for the first time in Italy, precisely in Impruneta.
A 82 years old, a retired physics professor arrived from North Carolina to look for evidence of his brother Robert, who missing in the clouds of heaven on Elba Island on November 5, 1944. Born in Illinois, Sergeant Robert Spoonamore , 21, American aviation radio operator, was to Alesani in Corsica with his 486th Bomb Squadron.
That set off on November 5th with 5 other men on a plane to bomb a bridge in Padua. It was the 57th expedition: the 60th would have been allowed to go home.
"The first of December '44 - recalls John, who was then 11 years - the postman arrived by bike, knocked on the door. The telegram announcing the death of Robert plane. I heard my mother cry. After a year was He pronounced dead. "
A mystery, because in addition to the bodies was never found even one piece of the plane. Now that the parents and the other six brothers died, John did not give up: he addressed the group of Air Crash Po Soncino (Cremona) composed of aviation history enthusiasts, to appeal to anyone with memories of a plane He disappeared from the skies Elbe.
A Impruneta John visited the graveyard of the Americans. He found the name of Robert engraved on the wall of the missing. He stroked one written as if it were the body of the brother who had no burial. He also found the names of the other crew members. From the archives of the Florence American Cemetery and Memorial, managers John M. Luncheon and Angel M. Matos found photos taken just before the last flight of Robert, the document of the aircraft dispersed, the coat of arms bearing the breastplate of his jacket, image Schnapps Yo-Yo. Pieces of a life that emerge from a hidden past probably forever from the waters of the island.
 
john finally found out what happened to his brother after all these years, thanks for posting this..sad but really interesting story
 
Word of Robert's MIA status reached his family 75 years ago; 1 December 1944.
 

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