Seymour E. Coe, Jr. was born in New Jersey on June 25, 1922. His parents were Seymour Coe Sr (28 Feb 1900 – 22 Feb 1964) and Audrey B. (Fullerton) Coe (29 Mar 1902 – 10 Jul 1968). He had a younger sister, Katherine Bardin (Coe) Conklin (abt 1925 – unk). His father's parents were Frank Seymour Coe Sr (11 Dec 1870 – 28 Jun 1942) and Fannie Amelia (Burghardt) Coe (4 Sep 1869 – 6 Sep 1941). In 1940, he and his parents and his sister Catherine lived with his father's parents at 136 William Street, East Orange, Essex County, New Jersey. His father was a bank clerk, and his mother was manager of a candy store. Frank S. Coe Sr, his grandfather, was an educator and Principal of Columbian School in East Orange, New Jersey from 1893 to 1937.
He completed four years of high school and worked as a skilled pattern and model maker. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Newark, New Jersey on March 11, 1942. He was 5 feet 4 1/2 inches tall, weighed 130 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair.
He entered Army Air Forces pilot training, but washed out at some point. He completed aerial gunnery training, and was assigned as nose turret gunner on the heavy bomber crew of Lt Robert G. Reeder in the 839th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group. The Reeder crew completed B-24 crew training with the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico in March 1944.
The Reeder crew deployed with the 487th Bomb Group to England in March 1944. Seymour Coe is not listed in the 487th Bomb Group's flight echelon deployment order from Alamogordo. He probably traveled overseas with the ground echelon, and crossed the Atlantic aboard the troop ship SS Duchess of Bedford. Reeder's copilot, 2/Lt Floyd Schwab, was moved to the first pilot position during the deployment, and 2/Lt Norman C. Van Kirk was assigned as the crew's copilot. There is a photo of the Floyd Schwab crew that was probably taken at Herington, Kansas, the flight echelon's first stop during the deployment. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.
On June 7, 1944, Lt Schwab's crew flew B-24H 42-52624 'BoxCar' on the 487th Bomb Group mission to bomb a tactical target at Angers, France, in support of the Normandy Invasion. Clouds obscured the target and the Lead Squadron bombed an alternate target, the Loire River bridge at Montjean, France, about 20 miles west of Angers. The Schwab crew flew in the High Squadron and bombed a railroad marshalling yard at Chateaubriant, France, about 50 miles northwest of Angers. Sgt Coe and six of his crewmates were killed in action when their aircraft was shot down by flak near Rennes, France, on the return from the mission. The aircraft broke up and crashed at La Rabine, just west of Bruz, France. Three men survived and became prisoners of war.
The dead were buried at the civilian cemetery in Bruz, France. After the war, Sgt Coe's remains were exhumed and their identity confirmed. His remains were then reinterred at the Brittany American Cemetery, Montjoie Saint Martin, France. His remains were returned to the United States in 1950. The remains were reinterred at Restland Memorial Park in East Hanover, Morris County, New Jersey on May 26, 1950.
The Breton Air Memorial Association and the Lacy-Davis Foundation dedicated a monument to the Floyd Schwab crew on June 9, 2012 in Bruz, France.
B-24H 42-52624 crew:
• Schwab, Floyd – 2/Lt – Pilot – POW
• Van Kirk, Norman C – 2/Lt – Copilot – KIA
• Swiridow, Louis – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Smith, Cecil J – 2/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Olsen, August M Jr – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Gross, Billy D – T/Sgt – Engineer – POW
• Marxmiller, Robert K – S/Sgt – Ball Turret – KIA
• Siegel, Melvin – S/Sgt – Tail Turret – POW
• Coe, Seymour – Sgt – Nose Turret – KIA
• Walker, Clarence E – S/Sgt – Upper Turret – KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com