James W. Thomas served in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a Technical Sergeant with the 577th Bomb Squadron, 392nd Bomb Group (Heavy) during World War II. A Radio Operator and Aerial Gunner aboard a B-24J Liberator (#42-99979), he died on April 28, 1944, while on a mission to bomb an aircraft repair factory at Zwickau, Germany. For reasons unknown (but perhaps related to the severe weather and icy conditions), the left wing broke off at the outer panel during assembly, and the plane crashed at North Tuddenham, Norfolk, England. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
