Clemente Moran Barboza was born at San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas on June 1, 1924. He was one of eight children of Clemente Vazquez Barboza (23 Nov 1900 – 1 Oct 1962), who was born at Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico; and Altagracia 'Gracia' or 'Grace' (Moran) Barboza (18 Apr 1901 – 2 Mar 1975), who was born at Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. His parents immigrated to the United States about 1908 and married at Bexar County, Texas on April 30, 1922. They lived initially at 308 Chihuahua Street, San Antonio, Texas. By 1940 the family home was at 1012 South Trinity Street in San Antonio. His father was a truck driver and later a watchman for Swift and Company, a meat packing company in San Antonio. He graduated from Sidney Lanier High School in San Antonio in 1942. The picture is of him at age 18 in the 1942 'Los Recuerdos' yearbook of Sidney Lanier High School, San Antonio, Texas. He was a member of R.O.T.C. in high school.
He registered for the draft at San Antonio on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighed 116 pounds, and had brown eyes and black hair. At that time he worked for a printing company in San Antonio. He worked in a semiskilled occupation in the preparation of meat products and was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, on August 4, 1943. He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery training, and was assigned as ball turret gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Doyle L. Simons in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group.
The Simons crew completed B-24 crew training with the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico, and deployed with the Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 41-29479 'The Big Bad Wolf' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944.
The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137, about two miles north of Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. After the Group arrived in England, Lt Simons was grounded with appendicitis, and was replaced as First Pilot by 2/Lt Lorin D. McCleary Jr.
On May 11, 1944, the McCleary crew took off from Lavenham in B-24H 42-52444 on a mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards at Chaumont, France. The secondary target was Troyes. The 487th Bomb Group formation never reached the target. Navigational error resulted in the formation flying over accurate German flak guns guarding the airfield at Chateaudun, France. Sgt Barboza and eight of his crewmates were killed in action when their aircraft was shot down by flak over Chateaudun. Sgt Cosme Marquez, a friend of Sgt Barboza, was flying with Lt Olen Huff's crew in B-24 41-29525 off McCleary's right wing. He said: "McCleary’s plane was hit 25 or 30 yards to our left. I saw the waist gunners struggling to get out. I was yelling, ‘Bail out! Bail out!’ but they didn’t make it. Barboza was on his fifth mission and was killed in the ball turret."
The aircraft took a direct flak hit in the nose and flight deck and started burning at the engines. It went into a dive, exploded in the air, and crashed three kilometers east of Varize near Bazoches-en-Dunois. One man, Staff Sergeant Harold E. Owens, survived. He wrote: "At approximately 1145 we were hit by flak in the nose, which resulted in the death of Lt Victor Kramer, navigator, Sgt Paul Churm, top turret gunner, and S/Sgt Eugene McKee, radio operator. The plane immediately burst into flames, we were flying at an altitude of approximately 11,000 feet, a few seconds later the plane started into a dive, and exploded in mid air, with the result that I was blown clear of the plane. I managed to pull my ripcord and landed eight miles north of Chateaudun, France. I made a safe landing and at a distance of one quarter of a mile I saw the plane completely wrecked and on fire. I was the only member of the crew who parachuted to safety. I did not go near the plane because I knew the bombs had not exploded. I hid in the woods and about five minutes later the bombs exploded."
The dead were recovered by German troops, who buried them at the Grand Cimetičre in Orleans, France. After the war, Sgt Barboza's remains were reinterred at Epinal American Cemetery, France.
B-24H 42-52444 crew:
• McCleary, Lorin D – 2/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• McCoy, Ernest E – 2/Lt – Copilot – KIA
• Kramer, Victor S – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Perry, Joseph D – 2/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Owens, Harold E – S/Sgt – Engineer – POW
• McKee, Eugene – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Frey, Arthur C – Sgt – Nose Turret – KIA
• Churm, Paul K – Sgt – Top Turret – KIA
• Barboza, Clemente M – Sgt – Ball Turret – KIA
• Knapp, Dale L – Sgt – Tail Turret – KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com