Francis J. Godfrey was born in 1926 in Hartford, Connecticut. He enlisted on May 3, 1944, at Fort Devens. He served in the 860th Bomber Squadron, 493rd Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Sergeant and Waist Gunner on the B-17 #43-38568 "Little Davey II" during World War II. He was Killed in Action on February 20, 1945, when his plane crashed at Ramsholt, England.
That day, the B-17 43-38568 (Little Davey II) took off from Debach airfield at 9.15 am was heading for Nuremberg, Germany. Almost immediately after take-off, the no. 3 engine caught fire. The pilot, 1st Lt. Frederick E Stindt, feathered the prop and extinguished the fire, but the engine fire quickly re-established, and the right-wing also began to burn. His best hope was to ditch the plane in shallow water in the River Deben. He managed to follow the River Deben searching for somewhere suitable, which turned out to be a point almost opposite the quay at Ramsholt, or so he thought. Unfortunately, the waters were deeper than he imagined, and the plane immediately sank in eighteen feet of water. Only the pilot and Technical Sergeant Jewel K. Haynes, the top turret gunner, survived.
Sgt Godfrey is now buried in the Northwood Cemetery, Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA.
Source of information: www.findagrave.com, geograph.co.uk, www.americanairmuseum.com