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Pilot Officer D V Thesiger . RAF VR
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Wg Cdr Horace John Audley Thewles DSO. Royal Air Force RAF Koggala
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Pte Jean Thibault . Canadian Army 42nd Field Artillery Regiment from Ottawa Jean Thibault volunteered on the 8th of September 1939. Training at Landsdown Park Ottawa, and Camp Borden. On the 5th of May 1941 he disembarked at Greenock, Scotland and on 8th of September he was in Bulford Camp.
He served in Iceland with "Z Force" in 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade, Windy Valley, Reykjavik, Iceland. On the 2nd of May 19144 he embarked to the Mediterranean and transferred to 1 LAA Battery, Lanark and Renfrew 12th Infantry Brigade. In February 1945 he left Italy for France, he returned to Canada in July 1915 having served in France, Belgium and Germany.
He was awarded the 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star, Defence Medal, Canadian Volunteer service with Clasp and War Medal 1939-45.
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Pvt. Aros Thibeau . US Army Headquarters Battery 172nd Field Artillery Battalion (d.23rd Mar 1945)
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P/O Roy Frederick Thibedeau . Royal Canadian Air Force 50 Sqdn. from Echo Bay, ON (d.31st Mar 1944) Roy Thibedeau was one of three uncles killed in WWII who I never knew since I was born years later. I carry with pride his first name as my middle name. He was a son of Fred and Ruby Thibedeau; husband of Vera Thibedeau, of Echo Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Roy is buried in Durnbach War Cemetery. Roy and two others from his crew were buried by the German civilians in a church graveyard and after the war their remains were relocated. His flight scarf was kept by a German resident of the village where the plane crashed and was later tracked down by a United States Army Captain. It was eventually returned to Roy's wife Vera.
Four others from the flight crew survived and became prisoners of war.
His brother-in-law was F-Sgt. Earl William Bock who died on 22nd October 1944 when his severely damaged Lancaster barely made it back to England, where his is buried.
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P/O Douglas A Thicke. . RCAF 434 Sqd (d.18th Mar 1944)
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FP Thickett . British Army Royal Armoured Corps FP Thickett served with the Royal Armoured Corps British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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L/Sgt. R Thie . British Army 8th Btn. Middlesex Regiment from Hampstead
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Keith Thiele DSO, DFC.. Royal New Zealand Air Force from Christchurch, New Zealand  Keith Thiele was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and three Distinguished Flying Crosses During missions in 1942 and 1943, Thiele twice brought damaged Lancasters home on two engines after the aircraft were badly damaged by enemy fire.
Fellow flier Sergeant R J Campbell referred to Thiele as "the best little bomber pilot in the whole RAF and every one of us looks up to him as a little tin god".
He became legendary in his squadron for weaving his cumbersome bomber through German searchlight and flak barrages as shells burst all around. All the time, Thiele would be singing some New Zealand song over and over, Campbell said in a US magazine interview.
"I would not like to go out in any kite now that did not have Keith at the controls," Campbell said.
Thiele flew 56 bomber missions before converting to fighter planes.
He wrote himself once that "Hitler came to [his] rescue" in 1939 as he had achieved nothing at school and was heading for an aimless existence.
In early 1945, he was given command of 3 Squadron, flying Tempests from Holland.
He destroyed two enemy fighters before he was shot down by flak while attacking trains in Germany, narrowly escaping lynching after landing by parachute. Slightly wounded, he was taken prisoner but was only held captive for a few weeks before escaping from a hospital and getting back to Allied lines to rejoin his squadron.
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L Thirkil . British Army Duke of Wellingtons West Riding Regiment L Thirkil served with the Duke of Wellingtons West Riding Regiment British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Thomas . British Army Thomas served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Sgt. A. H. Thomas . 87 Squadron
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AJ Thomas . British Army AJ Thomas served with the British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Ord.Tel. Alan Charles Thomas . Royal Navy HMS Manchester from Coventry My dad, Alan Charles Thomas, served on HMS Manchester, as an Ordinary Telegrapher, from April 1942, until its torpedo damage, and resultant scuttling in Aug, later that year. His time on Manchester, of which, I can state he was extremely and enduringly proud, started with Arctic Convoy duties inculding Spitzbergen and the notorious convoy P17, and culminated in Op Pedestal, and his imprisonment in Laghout in Algeria. His description of that legendary swim to the Tunisan coast, fired my youthful imagination given its humorous detail, a ship-mate enduring the swim, with my dad's help as a very good swimmer, all the while clutching his knife and fork only to discovery that his POW diet was mostly a sand based soup! Typical British gallows humour, hiding from a small child the reality of his father being starved to half his body weight in just 3 months. Suffice to say that my mum refused ever to visit France because of the 'hospitality' of the Vichy French.
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P/O. Alfred John Thomas . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 75 Squadron from Bermuda (d.31st July 1943) Jack Thomas was the pilot of a Stirling bomber which came down over Remscheid on the night of 30th/31st of July 1943. He kept the plane aloft while the survivors of a direct hit bailed out. Two of his crew were held nearby and asked to see the body of an airman who was found in the aircraft which had gone down in a lake. They were not allowed to do so. Those two men were held as PoWs till the end of WWII. They both visited Jack's sister and husband in Chelmsford to tell them what had happened to Jack. Paddy Stewart, a crew member, moved to Canada. Crumpty, an Australian was a crew member too.
Jack was born on 8th January 1919 in Pembroke Dock, Wales and moved to Bermuda in 1928/9 where his father had obtained work in the Dockyard. His name is on the panels at Runnymede. Although he died before I was born, he was a very real presence in our family life and with those who knew him.
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Cpl. Alfred Thomas . British Army 4th Battalion Welch Regiment (d.2nd November 1944) Alfred Thomas was my Great Uncle who I never met but I was very close to his wife, my Great Aunt Ethel. In all that time, the loss of her Alf was a pain she never recovered from and she never once watched a Remembrance Day from the Cenotaph.
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Sgt. Alfred "Tom" Thomas . British Army Coldstream Guards from Beverley My father Alfred Thomas served in Palestine before the war. On 13th April 1939 he was back in Egypt, where he stayed until another tour of duty in Palestine starting on 27th of May 1940. With the Second World War now well under way, Tom was posted back to Egypt on 27th of June 1940 to face the Italians and, later, Rommel's Afrika Korps.
The Italians under Marshal Graziano launched a limited invasion of Egypt in September 1940, going as far as Sidi Barrani about 50 miles across the border from Libya, where they stopped and fortified the area. This gave General Wavell time to reorganise his forces before going on the counter-attack in Operation Compass, which began on the 7th/8th December 1940 and lasted until 7th February 1941. At that point, the Italians having lost, Sidi Barrani, the port of Bardia, Tobruk, and Benghazi surrendered south of Beda Fomm. During Operation Compass, 133,298 Italian soldiers were captured along with a large number of guns and tanks. The British now halted their attack, having to send troops to Greece. On 12th of February, Rommel flew to Tripoli ahead of his troops, who arrived on the 14th. Rommel almost immediately went on the offensive and by 24 March had taken El Agheila, which was the leading British position. He then advanced on Mersa el Brega, which fell on 31st of March. The British were by now in chaotic retreat with Benghazi falling on 4th of April. The only place holding out against Rommel’s forces was Tobruk.
My father probably fought in both campaigns, but it was during the retreat from Rommel's forces that on 27th of May 1941 he was reported as missing and only later as having been taken prisoner. It is possible that this was while defending the Halfway Pass from the German advance. My father rarely talked about his wartime experience, but he did believe that he remained alive when taken prisoner due to the fact that Rommel showed up around that time, which ensured that prisoners were treated correctly.
Prisoners of war tend to be written out of history apart from a few sensational cases of escape. These escapes were rarely successful and the reprisals could be life threatening. Many POWs were traumatised by their experiences and treatment, along with feelings of guilt for being captured. The first record of Tom, after he was shipped out of North Africa to Italy, was of being interned in Italian POW camp number 66. This camp was in Capua, a few miles south of Naples. It was situated on a vast plain that offered views of the Vesuvius volcano. When the Allies invaded Sicily on 10 July and Southern Italy on 3rd of September 1943, POWs would have been moved north as the Allies advanced. Apparently, when the Italians stopped their participation in the war, they withdrew their guards from the POW camps. This gave an opportunity for prisoners to escape. However, a secret branch of the Ministry of Defence (known as MI9) ordered that British POWs in Italy should remain in their camps after Italy surrendered. Many senior officers within the camps enforced this. As a result of this, the German army was able to walk into dozens of camps and round up the POWs.
Eventually, Tom ended up in Poland at Stalag 344 Lamsdorf (formerly Stalag VIIIB) in Silesia. This was a large German POW camp located in the small town of Lamsdorf, now called Lambinowice in Poland, that was initially built during WW1 to house French and British prisoners. His POW number was 30702.
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Sgt. Ambrose Bowen "Bo" Thomas . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 103 Sqd from Rugby (d.15th Jan 1942) Ambrose Thomas served as a pilot with 103 Squadron, he was killed on the 15th of January 1942.
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Sgt. Ambrose Bowen "Bo" Thomas . Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve 103 Sqd. from Rugby (d.15th Jan 1942) After researching my uncle Bo Thomas I found him buried in Becklingen War Cemetery. He is in a joint grave with Eric Twelves, Flight Sergeant, 759034.
Also from the 103 and died on the same day and buried in the same cemetery are: Sergeant 1105479 Arthur Stockdale, Flight Sergeant R/59562 Gilbert Peter Mallon Hardesty and Sergeant 1281400 John Samuel Dainton.
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Arthur Edward "Tommo" Thomas . British Army Welsh Guards from Mountain Ash, South Wales My grandfathers Arthur Thomas was a POW at Marienburg, Poland (Stalag XXb). Unfortunately he didn't speak much about his experiences during the Second World War and has passed away since so alot of what I know is very sketchy and based on snipits of things he would say very seldomly.
He was captured during the evacuation of Dunkirk while he was making up the force holding the Germans back with a Welsh regiment. There is a bit of confusion unfortuately as to who he was fighting with as we think he was either with the Welsh Gaurds or the Welsh Fusiliers and this is proving very difficult to ascertain. I remember him talking about being cornered and captured in a barn somewhere by the SS and Panzer crew and subsequently marched off to this POW camp. He also mentioned about doing some forced labour work on some farms there and how they were eventually forced marched back across to Germany in a bid to avoid the advancing Russians, and how they would survive on any food they could get their hands on. I would love to learn more about his experience during those times and from anyone who may remember him. Arthur Edward Thomas who came from Mountain Ash, South Wales. He would have been approx 18 or 19 years old at the time and spent the entire war as a POW at Marienburg following his capture. Sadly I do not possess any pictures of him from those days or have anything that would link him to a regiment or the POW camp and very little stories to expand on despite knowing for sure that he was involved in everything I've mentioned.
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Tpr. Arthur Thomas . British Army 61st. Reconnaissance Regiment from Stretford, Lancashire Arthur Thomas is my brother-in-law.
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Flying Officer B J Thomas . RAF VR 59 Squadron
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BC Thomas . British Army Royal Armoured Corps BC Thomas served with the Royal Armoured Corps British Army. I have his unissued dogtags, made in preparation for deployment to the Far East and would love to get them home to his family. I am happy to cover all costs. If you are a family member or can put me in touch with them please get in touch. Update: The Wartime Memories Project is no longer in contact with Dan , his website, facebook page and email have all ceased to function. But if you can add any details about the person listed, please use the add to record link below.
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Pte Benjamin Islwwyn Thomas . British Army 7th Btn Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (d.29th September 1944)
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Lt. Charles Thomas . British Army Royal Dragoons My grandad was in the 8th Army. He was in the Royal Dragoons, which I think he served with in India prior to the war.
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P/O Charles A "Chuck" Thomas . USAAF 419 (Moose) Squadron P/O Charles A Chuck Thomas 10601596 was a USAAF pilot based at Middleton St George now Teeside airport and flew Halifax's from this base for 419 RCAF Moose Squadron he was shot down on the night of 22/23 April 1944 and evaded capture his aircraft that he flew included VR;
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Sgt. Cyril George "Tommy" Thomas . Royal Air Force 77 Sqdn. from Bromyard
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Killick. Dave Henry "Tom" Thomas . Fleet Air Arm HMS Formidale from London, England. My Father, Dave Thomas was in a reserved occupation until 1944 (I believe) He was then conscripted into the Fleet Air Arm. He sailed to America and travelled across the USA by Train to join HMS Formidable on the west coast, with the British Pacific Fleet.
He was a mechanic, servicing the aircraft and did a course on Seafires which were a bit too fragile for aircraft carriers although they were still used. He mainly serviced Avengers and Corsairs. I remember him telling me of one occasion when he had just finished a service on a n Avenger and the Pilot came to ask him if it was ready. Upon confirming this he was told to get in the rear gunners turret and when my father asked why, the Pilot said, well you serviced it so if I go down so do you.
He was in Sydney Australia on two occasions, I'm not sure of dates but I believe it was in 1945 and I still have some of the photo's he took of Sydney at that time, complete with Trams. When the war ended they returned to Sydney and were moored at Pier 1 alongside HMS Indefatigable. We used to have photos of this but are now long gone.
Eventually they were advised that the Indefatigable was to go home the Formidables crew were, naturally upset. But just before the ship left both ships complements were marched down onto the docks with all their personal gear and the crews swapped ships! So the Formidables crew sailed home, first on the Indefatigable.
My father achieved the rank of Killick and it was his inability to spell that stopped him becoming a Petty Officer. He died in 1984 at the age of 69 after along illness
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