ATKINSON, Tom Fleetwood

Rank:

Flight Officer

Service Branch:

U.S. Army Air Corps (AAF)

Service Number:

Squadron:

82nd Troop Carrier Squadron

Group:

436th Troop Carrier Group

Function:

Glider Pilot

Plane:

Horsa Glider serial number HG-981

Status:

Died of wounds from machine gun bullets

Date of death:

June 7, 1944

Place of death:

one mile northeast of Sainte-Mere-Eglise, Departement de la Manche, Basse-Normandie, France

Age at death:

21

Awards:

Not available

Burial 1:

US Military cemetery in Blosville, France

Burial 2:

Florence National Cemetery
Florence County, South Carolina
(reinterred November 19, 1948)

Grave number:

Plot: Section C, Site 689

Cenotaph:

Born:

May 29, 1923

Hometown:

Latta, South Carolina

Family:

Parents:
Dick Cleveland Atkinson (1884 - 1976)
Sarah Fleetwood Carmichael Atkinson (1892 - 1985)

Spouse:


Children:


Siblings:
Mary Margaret Atkinson Wright (1912 - 2001)
Sarah Vernon Atkinson Turner (1913 - 1994)
Richard Samuel Atkinson (1916 - 1985)
Bennie Earl Atkinson (1918 - 2008)
Annie Myrtle Atkinson Weeks (1920 - 1978)
James Arthur Atkinson (1921 - 2014)
Daniel Cleveland Atkinson (1922 - 2012)
Harry Bryant Atkinson (1928 - 2001)
Edward Carbin Atkinson (1931 - 1931)
John Willie Atkinson (1932 - 1932)
Jerry Floyd Atkinson (1934 - 2014)

Additional information:

Joined the Army at age 19 in 1942; trained as a glider pilot. Gliders were used to silently pass over enemy lines, carrying troops and/or equipment. The glider would "crash land" in a predetermined landing zone. On this D-Day combat mission, conditions were not as favorable as hoped. "While coming in for a landing at 2250 hours on 6 June Flight Officer Atkinson, flying first pilot, was struck by machine gun bullets. He died 7 June 1944 from the injuries received."

Research by: Victoria Proctor, genealogist

Sources: Dillon County War Memorial, NARA, Veterans Affairs, personal files

Back to WWII Veterans Index Page

Copyright © 2014 Victoria Proctor. All rights reserved.