Thomas Bishop Bone was born in 1919 in Dickson county, Tennessee, son of Eugene Wellington Bone and Nellie Lee Alison. The family lived in Dickson county, where his father was a farmer. He had one brother and one sister. Thomas graduated from Charlotte High School where he was a star on the football squad. He attended Austin Peay State College in Clarksville, Tennessee for one year before entering the service..

On January 16, 1941 he entered the Army Air Force at Ft. McPherson, Georgia. By 1943 he was a Staff Sergeant attached to the 323rd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomber Group (Heavy). The 91st Bombardment Group was activated at Harding Field, Louisiana on April 15, 1942 and went to MacDill Field, Florida for the first phase of training from May 16, 1942 to June 25, 1942. The Group was then assigned to 2nd Air Force at Walla Walla, Washington for the second and third phases of training from June 26, 1942 until August24, 1942. The 91st Bomb Group, known more informally as "the Ragged Irregulars" was in England by October 1942.

The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, reported on July 12, 1943: "Staff Sergeant Thomas Bone of Cumberland Furnace, was a member of the crew of a Flying Fortress which brought down six Nazi planes in a recent raid on Occupied France…One of the enemy planes was brought down by the accurate marksmanship of Sgt. Bone, left waist gunner…The Flying Fortress was attacked numerous times and was damaged, but returned to base with none of the crew wounded."

In September 1943 they were at RAF Bassington in England, which served as a bomber airfield for the Eighth Air Force, and was designated AAF Station 121. He was waist gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, #42-3079 when on September 16, 1943 they departed AAF Station 121. Their destination was Nantes, France, to attack shipping targets. South of St. Nazaire the plane was hit and all crew bailed out. SSgt Thomas Bone was killed in action. At least seven surviving crew members were taken prisoners of war.

He is buried in the Rhone American Cemetery, Draguignan, Departement du Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France: Plot A Row 4 Grave 13.

References:

1920; Census Place: Civil District 9, Dickson, Tennessee; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 12

1930; Census Place: District 9, Dickson, Tennessee; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 0016

1940; Census Place: Dickson, Tennessee; Roll: m-t0627-03888; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 22-16

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56510474/thomas-b-bone

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil

http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/544

The Tennessean, Nashville, TN: July 12, 1943, p.3

Missing Air Crew Report 550

Dickson County Tennessee World War II Scrapbook, compiled by William E. (Cubby) and Lorene Donegan Brazzell, Dickson County Historical & Genealogical Society, Allegra printing, Dickson, TN, 2011, p.22

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Fold3.

Thomas B Bone