Thomas Wilson Pearce was born at Clarksburg, Ross County, Ohio, on March 26, 1917. His father was George Hallard Pearce (20 Dec 1888 – 11 May 1928), who was born at Clarksburg, Ohio. His father was a schoolteacher, and went by his middle name, Hallard. His mother was Amy R. (Garrison) Pearce (14 Apr 1894 – 2 Sep 1978), who was born at Wayne, Fayette County, Ohio. Amy Pearce later married Hugh W. Farmer (14 Sep 1888 – Nov 1969), whose wife Frances I. Farmer died in 1933. Thomas Pearce had an older sister, Melba E. (Pearce) Wolf (20 Oct 1914 – 11 Sep 1989), who lived at Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio; and a younger sister, Mildred Ruth Pearce (10 Oct 1919 – 21 Mar 1921), who died as an infant. He had two younger brothers: Roy Hallard Pearce (12 Nov 1922 – 16 Jun 2006) and Kenneth Earl Pearce (19 Nov 1927 – 20 Feb 2010).
He completed four years of high school, and in 1940 was a lodger in the household of Herald Albert in New Holland, Pickaway County, Ohio, where he worked as a factory laborer. He later worked as a sales clerk. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Lockbourne Army Air Base, Columbus, Ohio, on April 3, 1942. He was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 119 pounds. He had brown eyes and brown hair, and a shoe size of 6 1/2 C. In 1944 his mother, Amy R. Farmer, lived at RFD #1, New Holland, Pickaway County, Ohio.
He began his Army Air Forces training at Ellington Field, Texas on June 9, 1942. He completed bombardier training in Class 42-17 at Midland Field, Texas, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on December 17, 1942. He was then assigned as bombardier on the crew of Lt Fred R. Peck Jr in the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy), part of the the 26th Antisubmarine Wing of the Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command. The 26th Antisubmarine Wing was headquartered at Miami, Florida. From late 1942 to 1943 it dispatched B-24 antisubmarine patrols from bases in Florida, the Caribbean, South America, and Ascension Island. These included bases at Miami, Florida; Havana, Cuba; Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico; Waller Field, Trinidad; Atkinson Field, British Guyana; Zandery Field, Suriname; Belem, Fortaleza, and Natal in Brazil; and Wideawake Field, Ascension Island.
On October 1, 1943 the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron was designated the 839th Bomb Squadron, and was assigned to the newly formed 487th Bomb Group. The Squadron moved temporarily to Pueblo, Colorado; and on November 17, 1943 moved to the 487th Bomb Group's base at Bruning Army Air Base, Nebraska. In December 1943 the 839th Bomb Squadron moved with the 487th Bomb Group to Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico to conduct B-24 crew training. Some of the veterans of antisubmarine patrol were assigned to the other three Squadrons in the Group. Lt Pearce was assigned to the crew of Captain Edward J. Brodsky in the 838th Bomb Squadron. The Brodsky crew completed B-24 crew training at Alamogordo, and deployed with the 487th Bomb Group to England in March 1944. The Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. The base control tower was located about two miles due north of Lavenham at 52.1330°N, 0.7693°E.
On May 11, 1944, the Brodsky crew took off from Lavenham in B-24H 42-52763 on a mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards at Chaumont, France. The secondary target was Troyes. The 487th Bomb Group formation never reached the target. Navigational error resulted in the formation flying over accurate German flak guns guarding the airfield at Chateaudun, France. Lt Pearce and eight of his crewmates were killed in action when their aircraft was shot down by flak over Chateaudun. Brodsky's plane was hit in the number 3 engine, which caught fire. The aircraft peeled off to the right. After losing number 4 engine it dove down, and Capt Brodsky made a crash landing on farmland belonging to a Mr. Hubert Bourjois near the village of Gaubert, commune of Guillonville, France, about fifteen miles east of Chateaudun. One crew member, Lt Lee G. Johnson, bailed out safely before the crash landing. Brodsky and his copilot, John W. Roberts, were able to escape from the aircraft on the ground, but were unable to suppress a wing fire. Six crew members, including Lt Pearce, were trapped in the aircraft and died when the fire spread and the fuel tanks exploded, engulfing the aircraft in flames. The ball turret gunner, S/Sgt Elton Tollett, was thrown from the plane during the crash landing, and died at a German Air Force hospital in Orleans, France, on May 12, 1944.
On May 16, 1944 five of the dead, including Lt Pearce, were buried as unknowns at the Saint Cheron civilian cemetery in Chartres, France. In November 1946 Lt Pearce's remains were exhumed and reburied at the US Military Cemetery Blosville, France (near Carentan) in Plot DD, Row 6, Grave 113. In 1948 the identity of his remains was officially confirmed by dental records. On February 14, 1949 his remains were permanently reinterred at the US Military Cemetery Saint-Laurent-Sur-Mer, France. This cemetery is now named Normandy American Cemetery. He also has a cenotaph at New Holland Cemetery, Ohio, where his parents are buried.
The 487th Bomb Group Roll of Honor monument at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, Georgia was dedicated to Thomas W. Pearce by his good friend Gilbert M. Spring in 2010. Thomas Pearce (bombardier) and Gilbert Spring (navigator) served together in the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron, flying B-24 antisubmarine patrols from Ascension Island in 1943.
B-24H 42-52763 crew:
• Brodsky, Edward J – Capt – Pilot – POW
• Roberts, John W – Capt – Copilot – POW
• Weiss, Lester – 1/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Johnson, Lee G – 2/Lt – Navigator – POW
• Pearce, Thomas W – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Simoni, Walter – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Nance, Clifford P – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Tollett, Elton – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – MIA
• Lipskas, Bronis D – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
• Murphy, William J – S/Sgt – Top Turret Gunner – KIA
Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com