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Spare a thought - a prayer if that's what you do, for 2nd Lt Thomas J Foley 785 Bombardment Squadron of 466 Heavy Bombardment Group out of RAF Attlebridge, Norfolk who died today in 1945. His name is to be found on the Wall of Remembrance at the American Cemetery Madingley, Cambridgeshire.
As the right-hand seat pilot of Chris' Crate, a B24 Liberator, they took off at around 8 am. About fifteen minutes later, they were struggling to survive in the chilly North Sea after a multiple engine failure and heavy ditching. Some of the crew survived, but Tom wasn't one of them.
Image of B24 courtesy of the American Air Force in Britain.
He may or may not be a relative - it's a common enough name - but that doesn't matter to me. The likelihood of anybody coming over from the USA to see a name on a wall is very slim. But I have the same name, and I live just twenty minutes away, so I stand in for them.
Here are some of the rest of them - men who have no grave except the wide waters.
Thank you, and thank you.
As the right-hand seat pilot of Chris' Crate, a B24 Liberator, they took off at around 8 am. About fifteen minutes later, they were struggling to survive in the chilly North Sea after a multiple engine failure and heavy ditching. Some of the crew survived, but Tom wasn't one of them.
Image of B24 courtesy of the American Air Force in Britain.
He may or may not be a relative - it's a common enough name - but that doesn't matter to me. The likelihood of anybody coming over from the USA to see a name on a wall is very slim. But I have the same name, and I live just twenty minutes away, so I stand in for them.
Here are some of the rest of them - men who have no grave except the wide waters.
Thank you, and thank you.
