Flight Officer Thomas Campbell Whyte, Army serial number T-131915, was born at Munson, Alberta, Canada on June 17, 1919. His parents were Thomas Whyte (18 Jun 1877 – 12 Jun 1965), who was born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada about 1890; and Elizabeth (McNiven) Whyte (5 Oct 1878 – 23 Mar 1944), who was born in Scotland and immigrated to Canada about 1889. His parents married at Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada on January 2, 1900. He had two siblings: James Edmond Whyte (1902 – 1937) and Catherine Orma (Whyte) Harvey (1907 – 1998). The family lived initially at Cumberland, British Columbia, Canada. By 1907 they lived at Munson, Alberta, Canada, where his father was a retail merchant and farmer.

He immigrated with his parents from Munson, Alberta, Canada to California in 1923. They traveled via Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington and settled in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. He graduated from Stockton High School in February 1938. His portrait in the school's 1938 yearbook is accompanied by this entry:

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WHYTE, THOMAS C.

Commercial; Rifle Club; Band '37,

'38; Attended Roosevelt Hi School

in Oakland '35, '36

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In April 1940 the family lived at 2415 East Poplar Street in Stockton, where he and his father worked as retail merchandise clerks. He registered for the draft at Stockton, California on October 16, 1940. He was 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds, and had blue eyes and brown hair. At that time he resided on Cleveland Street in Stockton and worked at Morris Auto Supply Company on Miner Avenue. His wife was Dorothy Whyte. They had a son before he deployed to England.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army, completed Army Air Forces navigator training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Floyd W. McCullough. The McCullough crew completed operational training in the States and departed Hunter Field, Georgia on November 26, 1944, bound for England via the North Atlantic ferry route. The crew was assigned to the 837th Bomb Squadron, 487th Bomb Group, at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England. They arrived in England by December 7, 1944, and became part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe. Here is the Lt McCullough's crew roster on February 20, 1945:

B-17G 43-38596 – 837th Bomb Squadron

• McCullough, Floyd W – 2/Lt – Pilot – POW

• Elam, Paul J – 2/Lt – Copilot – POW

• Whyte, Thomas C – F/O – Navigator – KIA

• Lehmkuhl, Donald J – 2/Lt – Bombardier – POW

• Taft, Kay S – T/Sgt – Engineer – POW

• Mitchell, Robert E – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA

• Brotherton, Wayne C – Sgt – Spot Jammer – KIA

• Dunham, Hiram D – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – KIA

• Raffel, William P – S/Sgt – Waist Gunner – KIA

• Hyatt, Gilbert E – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – POW

F/O Whyte and four of his crewmates were killed in action on February 20, 1945, when their aircraft, B-17G 43-38596, was shot down by flak after bombs away over Nuremberg, Germany. The aircraft took a direct hit during the turn away from the target, the railroad station at Nuremberg, and exploded within 30 seconds. The Germans reported that the aircraft crashed at Röthenbach an der Pegnitz, 10 kilometers east of Nuremberg, between 1300 and 1400 hours. The dead were buried at the cemetery in Fürth, Germany, just west of Nuremberg. Five men survived and became prisoners of war.

After the war his remains were permanently interred at Lorraine American Cemetery, Saint-Avold, France, in Plot K, Row 21, Grave 11.

Sources:

1. 487th Bomb Group Association

2. 1901 Canada Census; British Columbia; Vancouver; Cumberland Town. Whyte, Thomas. 31 Mar 1901 (his father)

3. 1916 Canada Census; Alberta; Bow River District. Whyte, Thomas. 6 Jul 1916 (his father)

4. 1921 Canada Census; Alberta; Bow River District. Whyte, Thomas. 1 Jun 1921 (his father)

5. 1930 US Census; California; Alameda County; Oakland. Whyte, Thomas. 9 Apr 1930 (his father)

6. 1940 US Census; California; San Joaquin County; Stockton. Whyte, Thomas. 13 May 1940 (his father)

7. Alberta, Canada, Homestead Records, 1870–1930 (ancestry.com)

8. American Battle Monuments Commission

9. British Columbia Marriage Registrations, 1859–1932. Marriage of Thomas Whyte and Elizabeth McNiven on 2 Jan 1900 (his parents)

10. California Death Records, 1940–1997

11. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004

12. Oakland Tribune. Obituary of Thomas Whyte. Oakland CA, 13 Jun 1965 (his father)

13. Seattle, Washington, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1882–1957 (ancestry.com)

14. Social Security Death Index

15. Thomas WHYTE (1877 – 1965) in Thompson-Baines: McNeil-Lewis Family Tree (ancestry.com) (his father)

16. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 12550

17. U.S. Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942–1949 (ancestry.com)

18. U.S. National World War II Memorial Registry. World War II Honoree Thomas Campbell Whyte

19. U.S. School Yearbooks, 1900–1999 (ancestry.com): BLUE and WHITE [yearbook]. Stockton CA: Stockton High School, Feb 1938 (senior class portrait with Feb 1938 graduates on page 25)

20. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946

21. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)

Research by:

Paul Webber

Find A Grave member ID 47577572

Last edited 7 Mar 2024