Thomas Crawford Leake III was born on July 30, 1919, in Richmond County, North Carolina. He was the son of Thomas Crawford Leake and Mary Ledbetter Leak. He graduated from Rockingham High School in 1936, and that fall, he entered North Carolina State College to study Textile Management. He graduated in May 1940.

Immediately after graduation, he accepted a position with Burlington Mills in the Bristol, Tennessee plant. In a very short time, he was promoted to assistant supervisor of the weaving department of the plant. In July 1941, he entered the service, going first into the Coast Artillery. In December of the same year, he transferred to the Air Force and received his 2nd Lieutenant’s Commission and his Pilot’s Wings at Dorr Field, Arcadia, Florida, in the Class of 43-D.
He served as an instructor for six months at Bartow, Florida, and then went overseas in March 1944. On a mission near Couldommiers, France, on August 27, 1944, he was reported missing in action, and later it was announced that he had been killed in action. On that day, Leake took off from A-5 "Chipelle" airfield on ground troops cover mission in Coulommiers, France. At 02:15 PM, Leake was shot down in a dogfight, and his plane crashed in the commune of Changis-Sur-Marne - east of Meaux. He was killed in this crash.

1Lt Leake is now buried in the Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov, francecrashes39-45.net, www.lib.ncsu.edu