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Personal info

Full name
TOMLINSON, Robert Woodberry
Date of birth
10 November 1923
Age
21
Place of birth
Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts
Hometown
Essex County, Massachusetts

Military service

Service number
O-721256
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
566th Bombardment Squadron,
389th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
7 April 1945
Place of death
Soltau, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 35 41

Immediate family

Members
Reuben Tomlinson (father)
Helen (Woodberry) Tomlinson (mother)
Sarah A. Tomlinson (sister)

Plane data

Serial number
44-49533
Data
Type: B-24L
Destination: Geesthacht, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the explosives plant
MACR: 13892

More information

2nd Lt Robert W. Tomlinson graduated from Salem High School in 1941. He attended the University of Maine.

He joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Bangor, Maine on 9 December 1942.

An ME-109 attacked from about 6 O’clock high, pulled up over the formation, and then made a tight turn and dove on the lead aircraft. Aircraft 44-49533 was flying as deputy lead of the Group. The ME-109 did off the lead ship and crashed into the deputy lead hitting it at about the cockpit. Aircraft 44-49533 peeled off to the right and had n° 1 propeller knocked off and n° 4 engine on fire. No parachutes were seen from this aircraft.

Two crew members were taken prisoner, nine were killed.

2nd Lt Robert W. Tomlinson is remembered at Greenlawn Cemetery in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, Peter Schouteten, Carla Mans, www.389thbg.net, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov, www.ancestry.com - WWII Draft Card / 1940 Census

Photo source: Mireille Goedhart, Salem High School 1941, www.findagrave.com - THR / Thomas F. Scully