It’s interesting how an
e‑mail from out of the blue can lead to a trip to France! On December 24,
2010, an e-mail was forwarded to me from a reporter in France asking for
photographs of the P-38 to use in a newspaper article he was writing.
Unfortunately, due to the holidays the e-mail didn’t reach me until after
he had submitted the article. The story he wrote led me to France and to
Vincent Orrière, Vice President of the Mayenne WW2 Association, and then
to finding the final resting place of P-38 pilot 2nd Lt. Montgomery A.
Coddington.
The Mayenne WW2 Association is a group
based in France dedicated to making sure the soldiers who were killed
during World War II defending the area of Mayenne, France, are remembered
and honored. One such soldier was P-38 pilot 2nd Lt. Montgomery A. “Monty”
Coddington. Coddington grew up in Phoenix, Arizona and joined the ranks of
the Air Corps in February 1943. He earned his pilot’s wings and commission
at Williams Field in Arizona.
Coddington was attached to the 428FS, 474FG, 9th TAF in England. He was
reported missing after a strafing/bombing mission on a railway line in
France on June 7, 1944. Lt. Col. Henry Darling made the following
statement in the MACR dated June 9, 1944: “One engine was streaming
coolant fluid which was apparently cause by being hit by small arms fire.
We were approximately at 500 feet altitude. Lt. Coddington’s plane started
a slow turn to the left and burst into flame. He crashed into the ground
and I did not see him bail out.” The squadron has been under attack by
German fighters.
Sixty-six years later the Mayenne WW2 Association located the field where
Coddington’s P-38J crashed. The field remained as a pasture all these
years and had never been plowed. With help from a metal detecting group,
piles of machine gun bullets, large pieces of aluminum, a propeller, shoe
leather and pieces of Coddington’s parachute were found and have been
excavated to be used in a museum display.
Coddington was only eleven in 1932 when his mother died. His father passed
away many years before in 1924. His grandmother was his only surviving
close relative. In August of 1944, Coddington was interred in France at
the U.S. Military Cemetery, St. Hilaire-du-Harcouet. He was repatriated
back to the United States in 1949 and up until last month, his resting
place was unknown. After a few days of research and help from the Arizona
Archives and assistance from curious funeral home worker, 2nd Lt.
Montgomery Coddington was found. He was cremated on April 25th 1949 and
now rests with his mother, Kaetchen (Hensel) Coddington, and his
grandmother Augusta Hensel, at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery in Phoenix,
Arizona.
The Mayenne WW2 Association will pay tribute to Lt. Coddington with a
special ceremony and a monument erected in his name. The ceremony will
take place on June 9, 2011 in the town of Saint-Fraimbault-de-Prières near
a World War I and a World War II memorial located in the center of the
town.
We at the P-38 National Association have
been invited to attend the dedication ceremony and honor on of our own. We are in the process of
working out the logistics right now and we’d like to hear from any members
of the 428th. If you are interested in the dedication please e‑mail me
here
(ddebry@p38assn.org) for more
information. If you would like to help with a monetary
donation for the dedication ceremony, please click the picture on the
right (or contact Dayle
DeBry).
Dayle DeBry, Director of Public Relations (P‑38 National Association)
We
received an email a few months back from 
