When James Elmer Flora was born on November 22, 1924, in Arcanum, Ohio, his father, Joseph, was 38 and his mother, Lydia, was 33. He had three brothers and six sisters.

James served in the 338th Bomber Squadron, 96th Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Sergeant and Waist Gunner on the B17 #43-38746 aircraft during World War II. On January 29, 1945, while attempting assembly into a bomber stream scheduled to raid the marshalling railway yards at Bielefeld, Germany, his aircraft collided with that of 2Lt. George Peretti. Both aircraft exploded and crashed approximately 1/2 miles southeast of the airdrome. All 18 crew members aboard the 2 aircrafts were killed. SGT Smith is now buried in the Musselman Cemetery, Camden, Carroll County, Indiana, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.ancestry.com