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Thomas Thayne Llewellyn

Name:
Thayne Llewellyn Thomas
Rank:
Second Lieutenant
Serial Number:
Unit:
20th Bombardment Squadron
Date of Death:
1996-07-06
State:
Utah
Cemetery:
Lindquists Memorial Gardens of the Wasatch, South Ogden, Weber County, Utah, USA
Plot:
The Christus
Row:
Grave:
Decoration:
Comments:

Thayne Llewellyn Thomas was born on February 8, 1922, in Palmyra, Utah County, Utah. He was the son of Ross Thomas and Agnes Blanche Ferguson Thomas. He was married to Henrietta Oberlander Thomas. He entered the service in August 1942 and went overseas in August 1944. He served in the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2nd Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Second Lieutenant and Pilot of B-17 #42-38096 nicknamed ''Big Time'' during World War II.

On August 29, 1944, the 15th U.S. Army Air Force carried out Mission 263, known as the Air Battle over the White Carpathians, a daylight bombing raid on the Moravská Ostrava industrial complex in German-occupied Moravia, now part of the Czech Republic. The 2nd Bombardment Group’s 20th Bomb Squadron took part in the mission as one of the strike units. One of the aircraft involved was B-17G 42-38096 “Big Time,” which had already completed around sixty-five missions before that day. During the operation, the formation came under intense attack from German fighters over Moravia. “Big Time” was heavily damaged, lost altitude, and eventually crashed near Vsetín / Šanov in the present-day Czech Republic. Of the ten crew members on board, nine were killed in the crash, and only the pilot survived.

2Lt Thomas evaded capture with the help of local partisans before being rescued weeks later out of Banska Bystrica, Slovakia in a secret OSS rescue mission.. He died on July 6, 1996, and is now buried in the Lindquists Memorial Gardens of the Wasatch, South Ogden, Weber County, Utah, USA.

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