Lt. Tate was KIA weeks after he sent this letter. Joseph S Tate Jr. was the son of Joseph Scranton Tate and Alice Sargent Tate. Joseph grew up in a military family. He had two brothers and a sister. He graduated from The USMA at West Point in 1941 and was commissioned upon his graduation. Joseph and his brother, Frederic H Tate, attended USMA during overlapping years. Frederic H Tate graduated from USMA in 1943. Joseph served in the Army Air Corps in the 8th Air Force 93rd Bomb Group 409th Bomb Squadron in Hardwick, Norfork, England where he was on the crew of a Consolidated B-24. Joseph also served in the 9th Air Force, 93rd Bomb Group Heavy, 328th Bomb Squadron in Africa. He is listed as Command Pilot on a B-24 on the 1 Aug 1943 raid of the Ploesti oil fields in Romania. Joseph Tate had a short but distinguished military career that ended when he died during WWII. According to the Missing Air Crew Report, MACR, for the mission which took his life and those of eight other crew members, the plane was hit by enemy flak on a mission to Osnabruck. The crew was originally MIA until later when it was determined that they all perished. Lt Col Tate's wife was listed as the contact person in the papers of the MACR. There is a memorial page for Lt Col Joseph S Tate Jr on the WWII Memorial site. His awards are listed, which include: Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, and the French Croix de Guerre. Lt Col Joseph S Tate Jr is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Cambridge England. Additional information below was provided by contributor John Early Andrews # 47525492: Black '41: The West Point Class of 1941 and the American Triumph in World War II: Page 22