Thomas Laurence Yankus Sr
MilitaryAdded photo
Thomas Yankus was Radio Operator/Top Turret Gunner on B-17 #42-31565, shot down by Flak immediately after bombs away on a mission to Berlin on 4 March 1944 and crashed SE of Mons, Belgium.
Evaded with the help of the Belgian COMET evasion network.
Joining his Navigator Jonathan Pearson in their escape of the enemy, they were helped by many French citizens and Resistance members. Discovered to be Americans at the railway station in Chantilly on 3 June 1944, they managed to escape, together with their two guides, in the confusion following the strafing of the station by US P-47 fighters. They were ultimately led to the secret camps in the Fréteval Forest near Châteaudun, where they were hidden until liberation by troops of Patton's 3rd Army on 13 August 1944.
See Tom Yankus' page at the COMET network website : http://www.evasioncomete.be/fyankustl.html
Thomas Yankus attended Andrew Jackson High School in Laurelton, NY and worked for 2 years at the Sperry Gyroscope Co. After his enlistment, he went to Camp Upton, NY, then followed basic training in Miami Beach, Florida. After radio operator courses at Scott Field, Illinois, he trained on B-17s at Moses Lake, Washington. He went overseas on a B-17, flying from Nebraska, arriving in England in January 1944, where he was assigned to the 335th Squadron of the 95th Bomb Group at Horham.
After his return to the US in September 1944, he trained radio operator recruits at Langley Field, Virginia. Honorably discharged in November of that year, he lived in Long Island with wife Vivian and worked for United Parcel until 1953. The couple was owner of a motel in the Adirondack Mountains, NY, until 1955. After moving to St Petersburg, Florida, Tom worked in the construction business until his retirement in 1987.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16044786 and O-682089
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 38046850
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33305496
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32294218 and O-692337
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39031820
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Lassie Come Home
- Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 4 March 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Richmond Hill, Queens County, New York, NY, United States | 5 August 1923 | |
Enlisted |
New York City, New York, United States | 4 December 1942 | as a Private in the Air Corps |
Other Evaded |
France | 4 March 1944 - 13 August 1944 | Landed in parachute near Le-Cateau-en-Cambrésis, France. Liberated by American troops near Fréteval in August 1944. |
Revisions
MACR 2795
NARA WWII Enlistment records
Escape & Evasion report E&E 1064
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2795 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / self, MACR 2795