Born Thomas V. Nevin in 1924 at Illinois. He enlisted as a Private (ASN: 16076980) in the Army Air Corps on 1 September 1942 at Camp Grant near Rockford, Illinois. He completed aviation cadet training and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant (ASN: O-696134) in the USAAF.

He graduated with Class 43-13 from Bombardier and Navigator Training School, and underwent B-29 aircraft operational combat crew training at Smoky Hill Army Air Field near Salina, Kansas.

In October 1944, he deployed from Mather Field, California (with re-fueling stops at Hawaii and Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands) to the Central Pacific Theatre of Operations, and was assigned to 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 73rd Bomb Wing, 499th Bombardment Group (VH), 878th Bomb Squadron stationed at Isley Field on Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

On 18 December 1944, he flew in the Bombardier position aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, tail code V-Square-24 (Serial #42-24773). It was one of 89 aircraft launched in a multi-group formation to bombard the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Company and Aircraft Engine Plants near Nagoya, Japan.

Flak from anti-aircraft artillery was reported as meager, and Japanese fighter aircraft attacks were described as moderate. However, his aircraft sustained approximately 30 fighter attacks and went into a steep wing-over to the left dive, with flames coming from the forward bomb bay area and smoke trailing from the #2 engine.

When last sighted at 0435hrs, two enemy fighter planes followed his aircraft as it descended through the cloud cover at 20,000 feet over Nagoya Bay.

He was initially listed as MIA, and then declared Killed In Action after the war ended.

Ref: MACR 10654

Thomas V Nevin