Tylertown, Miss. – John Neil Smith is 94-years-old and lives with his wife Donis in Tylertown, Mississippi. Seventy years ago, he flew in three missions over Normandy during D-Day, witnessing the first shots fired.
Smith remembers flying over Normandy and seeing the mass of ships below him. His job was to protect the fleet from German planes. When he returned to base, his operation officer told him there were not enough pilots to do the next mission on time so he was instructed to eat some breakfast and fly another mission. Later that day he flew a third mission, making his final return around one in the morning in the rain.
