Memorial

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Thomas G. Deitman attended St. James High School in Chester for four years.

His son Thomas George Deitman Jr. was born in February 1945.

He joined the U.S. Army Reserve in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 19 November 1942.

The airplane feathered one engine and left the formation about half way between the target and Frankfurt, shortly after the formation was attacked by fighters. the pilot looked for a suitable place for an emergency landing but the aircraft lost altitude very rapidly, hit a chimney on a house and crashed at 12.45 hrs at the railway line on point 184,8. Only one crewmember had time to jump before the crash.

One crew member was taken prisoner, eight were killed. They were all buried at the cemetery of Neustädt-Werra.

According to the report of an investigation in January 1950, the remains of all the crewmembers were recovered by the 3046th QM Unit from this cemetery on 3 and 4 June 1945 and transferred to Margraten. At that time, the remains of only one crewmember was interred by name. A new investigation at Neustädt could not be conducted due to the political situation in the area since this town layed in the Russian occupied zone of Germany.

In 1991, a German citizen, who was digging a grave in the cemetery of Neustädt, discovered a metal U.S. military identification tag of Deitman and notified officials. The U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command was not able to gain acces to the site until 2007, and in 2008 excavated the area within the cemetery, and recovered human remains, and additional metal identification tags from three of the crew members. After forensic and circumstantial evidence research the remains could be identified as those of John J. Bono, John E. Hogan and Emil T. Wasilewski.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced on 29 May 2025 that Sgt. Thomas Deitman has been accounted for.

From May to June 2024, a DPAA recovery team returned to the area and continued excavation of the Neustädt cemetery, finding possible remains and life support equipment, after which all recovered evidence was transferred to the DPAA Laboratory for forensic analysis. Based on the laboratory analysis and total circumstantial evidence, a set of the remains were identified as those of Deitman.

funeral arrangements are pending (information added January 2026).