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Sherrill, Thomas Russell

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Personal Information

Rank F/O
Forename(s) Thomas Russell
Surname Sherrill
Gender M
Age 22
Date of Death 23-05-1944
Next of Kin Son of David Lorenza Sherrill and Louise Sherrill (née Conneley), of Ontario, Canada. Husband of Edythe Henrietta Sherrill (née Warner), marriage 15 May 1943 in Brantford, Ontario.
SHERRILL TR

Aircraft Information

Aircraft Avro Lancaster II
Serial Number DS759
Markings EQ-A

Memorial Information

Burial/Memorial Country Germany
Burial/Memorial Place Reichswald Forest War Cemetery
Grave Reference 4. G. 7.
Epitaph

IBCC Memorial Information

Phase 2
Panel Number 240

Enlistment Information

Service Number J/26744
Service Royal Canadian Air Force
Group 6
Squadron 408 (Goose)
Squadron Motto For freedom
Trade Pilot
Country of Origin United States of America

Other Memorials

Location Village Centre, Linton on Ouse, North Yorkshire
Country United Kingdom
Memorial Type Stone Memorial and inscribed slate tablet
Memorial Text In memory of 408 (Goose) and 426 (Thunderbird) Squadrons of R.C.A.F
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Miscellaneous Information

Thomas was born in Columbia, South Carolina, USA on 22 March 1922. His father, who died 1929, was a Public Accountant and was born at Cheraw, South Carolina and his mother was born at Branchville, S.C. They lived in Greenville, S.C. He had a brother David Lorenzo, in the US Merchant Marines and another, John Augustus serving in General Paton’s Third army, overseas. He also had two sisters: Kathryn Louise and another, who was married, La Bruce Sherrill Heist. Thomas attended Claxton School, Asheville, N.CI 1928-1935 (Elementary); Asheville High 1935-1939 (High School); Asheville N.C. After one year's leave 1939-1940 (he had High School Entrance and Jnr. Matric by then) he then went to Wake Forest College, Wake Forest , N.C. 1940-1941. (One year pre-med course). His only sport was playing golf. As Thomas was still at college his only occupation was working as a soda clerk at Tower Drug Store in Washington D.C.
He enlisted on 8 August 1941 (while the United States was still neutral) and after training embarked for the U.K. where he arrived at 3PRC on 2 July 1943. He then went to 14(P)AFU 20 July 1943, 61 Base 24 February 1944, 1666 CU 13 March 1944 and 408 Squadron 12 April 1944. It was shortly after arriving here that Thomas was to lose his life on 23 May 1944.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

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Fellow Servicemen

Please note that this list gives all the losses aboard the quoted aircraft and occasionally these may have occurred on an earlier date when the aircraft was not itself lost. Please check the dates of death carefully.

Brown C D (F/O)
Campbell A S (Sgt)
Cunningham H J (P/O)
Kalyta P (P/O)
Nightingale H A (Sgt)
Rehkopf W W (F/O)

Last Operation Information

Start Date 22-05-1944
End Date 23-05-1944
Takeoff Station Linton-on-Ouse
Day/Night Raid Night (1% moon)
Operation Dortmund. 375 aircraft, 18 Lancasters Lost (4.8%). Most of the bombing fell in the SE districts and mostly in residential areas. 852 houses and 6 buildings were destroyed. 361 were killed, including 22 PoW.
Reason for Loss Shot down by a night-fighter and crashed at Hartefeld, west of Sevelen, Switzerland

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Casualty Pack

IBCC is delighted to introduce a unique facility to link the Losses Database to the relevant RAF Casualty Pack on the National Archives website. This project is the result of on-going collaboration between IBCC, the MOD Records Office and National Archives, Kew. This document describes what Casualty Packs are, when they were created, the process of making them available to the public and then goes on to describe the process by which you can view the contents of the packs. Casualty Packs (CPs) were created by the RAF whenever there was serious injury or loss of life associated with operational activity within the RAF. This includes operational flying losses, enemy action due to air raids, road accidents either on station or even off-station if they involved RAF vehicles. Deaths due to natural causes in service or accidents that did not involve RAF vehicles did not generally give rise to a CP.

CPs were originally given a unique reference number by the RAF. Each begins with the letter ‘P’ and is followed by six digits, then an oblique (forward slash) and the finally the year in which the incident took place- for example P396154/42.

The CPs are in the process of being made available to the general public as they are passed from the MOD Records Office, Portsmouth to National Archives, Kew. This process requires some rework to the files which is very time consuming, so the process of making them all available to National Archives will take several years. They are being made available in increasing date order.

Once CPs arrive at National Archives they are assigned a unique AIR81 number, so each CP has both a P-number and an AIR81 number. Both are searchable on the National Archives website under ‘Search the catalogue’ and both are included on the IBCC website.

The AIR81 reference on the IBCC website is a link to the file on the National Archives website. When you click on it, the relevant page will open in a new tab on your browser.

There is currently no plan to digitise AIR81 files, partly because they are fragile and partly because the information they contain can at times be sensitive, even harrowing, since they may contain exhumation reports and even photographs of corpses. Family members wishing to read the AIR81 files relating to their ancestors are advised to exercise caution and be guided by National Archives warnings where appropriate.

There are two means for accessing AIR81 files- to attend in person or to order a copy by post.

To attend in person, the attendee should first create a Reader’s Ticket. This can be done online by following this link: https://secure.nationalarchives.gov.uk/login/yourdetails. Then click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and click Order in Advance. Enter your Reader’s Ticket number and state the date on which you intend to visit. National Archives will have the file ready for you when you arrive, saving you time. When you visit Kew, you must quote the Reader’s Ticket number and take along two forms of ID- one bearing your signature and one bearing your address. When you view the files, you are permitted to take photographs of each page, should you wish.

Alternatively, if you wish to order a copy by post, please be aware that there is a charge for this service based on the number of pages in the file. Click on the AIR81 reference on the IBCC website and then click Request a Copy. There is an £8.40 charge for National Archives staff to access the file and give you a quotation for the copying service. The process takes around 24 days to complete and can be expensive.

IBCC wishes to thank the staff at the MOD Records Office and National Archives for their engagement and assistance in making this facility available to our website users.