Theo Heath was born on October 4, 1921, in Newport, New Hampshire. He was the son of Clarence Allen Heath and Edith M Bartlett Heath. He was a graduate of Towle High School in Newport and, before enlisting, worked on an assembly line at a Beechcraft factory in California. He entered military service on July 14, 1942, and earned his pilot wings at Stuttgart, Arkansas, on October 1, 1943. After completing additional Army Air Corps training in the United States, he was sent overseas in early August 1944, first to North Africa, then to Italy. He served in the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Second Lieutenant and Co-Pilot of B-17 #42-31885 nicknamed 'Lovely Ladies' during World War II.

On August 29, 1944, during Mission 263, the Air Battle over the White Carpathians, the 15th U.S. Air Force launched a bombing raid from Italy against the Moravská Ostrava industrial complex in occupied Czechoslovakia. The formation met fierce resistance from German fighters and flak, and the 20th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Group, lost all eight of its B-17s. Among them was B-17G “Lovely Ladies” (42-31885), which was heavily damaged by enemy fire and exploded in midair before crashing near Vyškovec, Czech Republic. Of its ten crew members, nine were killed, and navigator 2Lt Charles H. McVey was the sole survivor, captured and held as a prisoner of war.

2Lt Heath was Killed in Action and is now buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery, Newport, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, b17flyingfortress.de, www.leteckabitvakarpaty.cz