Help needed in US canteen owner research

[Peter Graham]

My main area of collecting interest apart from jackets is US Army uniforms and field gear. A few years ago I bought this rather nice example of an early war canteen set.

The cover, canteen and cup are all 1942 dated and the canteen has the early type aluminium cap. The fact that the cover had three initials and a service number was a nice bonus. I pulled up the owners enlistment record a few years ago but didn't dig any further until last night. Here's the enlistment record.

http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-deta ... id=4953705

After another quick search I turned up these.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... 15&df=all&

http://warmemorial.us/mediawiki3/index. ... L_SERGEANT)_WWII

So it seems Norris W Thomas attained the rank of Technical Sergeant but sadly, was killed in action, probably in 1944 or 45. It seems odd that there is no date of death given or any other info regarding his unit etc. Does anyone know where I can go from here to research this guy further ? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I find it really sad that the two items of ID'd service gear that I own, the canteen and the 91st bomb group B-3 both turned out to belong to guys that were killed in action when they were barely 20 years old.

 

[unclegrumpy]

T/Sgt Norris W. Thomas was KIA on July 19, 1944. He was serving as a Top Turret Gunner on a B-17F (42-30851) in the 560th BS of the 388th BG. His plane broke up over Bury St. Edmunds, England at 15,000 feet.

Here is a link to what happened.....scroll down to the "Little Boy Blue" story:

http://www.8thafhsoregon.com/archive/or ... agerty.pdf

 

[Peter Graham]

Many thanks. A tragic story, but how did you find him so quickly ?

 

[unclegrumpy]

Basically, I took the information you found, made a few educated guesses, and got lucky. I have done a fair amount of this type of research so I have a few tricks, but this one came together much faster than most. I have some mysteries of my own that I have been working on....some for many many years....I sure wish they all were this easy to solve!

Also, what I wrote was not just sitting out there and you missed it. It is a compilation assembled from several sources. However, now that you know something about the guy, I bet that there is going to be a lot more about him and his plane that should be easy to find.

 

[ausreenactor]

Basically, I took the information you found, made a few educated guesses, and got lucky. I have done a fair amount of this type of research so I have a few tricks, but this one came together much faster than most. I have some mysteries of my own that I have been working on....some for many many years....I sure wish they all were this easy to solve!

Also, what I wrote was not just sitting out there and you missed it. It is a compilation assembled from several sources. However, now that you know something about the guy, I bet that there is going to be a lot more about him and his plane that should be easy to find.

GREAT work!!

Couchy

 

[MikeyB-17]

Peter, there's a more detailed account, including a crew photo, in Ian McLachlan's 'Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories'. I've scanned it, but Photobucket is such a pain in the arse (I've had it with them-I'm going elsewhere-suggestions?) that I've had to give up for now, as I'm on nights tonight and I need to get to bed. I'll sort it in the morning.

 

[Peter Graham]

Peter, there's a more detailed account, including a crew photo, in Ian McLachlan's 'Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories'. I've scanned it, but Photobucket is such a pain in the arse (I've had it with them-I'm going elsewhere-suggestions?) that I've had to give up for now, as I'm on nights tonight and I need to get to bed. I'll sort it in the morning.

Many thanks Mikey. Looking forward to seeing the scan. If you can't sort it with photobucket could you maybe email it to me at [email protected]. ? Cheers. By the way, a promo copy of the new Bonnevilles album will be on it's way to you soon.

 

[MikeyB-17]

Here you go Peter, sorry the scans aren't the greatest. Look forward to the Bonnevilles' album!

 

[Peter Graham]

Thanks a lot fellers. The wealth of knowledge on this forum and the willingness to share it never ceases to amaze me. In about 48 hours the guy was traced, his unit identified, the story and date of his death found and to cap it all, a crew photo. Fantastic. Mike, just ordered that book from Amazon. Cheers.

 

[MikeyB-17]

No problem Peter-it's an excellent book, as is Eighth Air Force Fighter Stories.