Lt. Thomas J. Moore Jr. 436th TCG 80Sq

Hello Everyone,

My name is Dave Frederick and I am writing in regards to my father-in- law, Lt. Thomas J. Moore Jr., glider pilot, 436th TCG 80Sq. Before I continue, I must say, this is a wonderful resource (the people here) with the sharing of information, incredible willingness to exchange ideas, courtesy of others and generosity of time. I hope I can gain some information on Lt. Thomas J. Moore Jr and share information I have as well. One day, my hopes are to visit Normandy and find the landing area or close to it.

What I do know, Lt. Thomas J. Moore Jr. was in the 436thTCG 80Sq. He was a co-pilot in a Horsa glider during the Elmira operation, D Day. Lt. George Ford was the pilot. If I recall correctly, Tom said George Ford was the flight squadron leader for glider pilots in the 80th. I’m not sure what the term would be for this. He and George Ford flew into Normandy with a 75mm howitzer near St. Mere Eglise. Unfortunately, my father-in-law was very quiet about his time in WW II. I could only take small clips of information.

What I think I know. Tom did say he and George was “one of the first of their group” that landed in Normandy. I think what he means is, he and George was one of the first of the 80th Sq to land in Normandy because from I understand, the 80th was part of Elmira and that was in a second “wave”, the 32nd serial? He also mentioned the light was fading. I think, he and Lt. George Ford flew in members of the 319th FAB, howitzer with jeep(?). Tom did say, all went well with the landing and getting the howitzer unloaded. Tom made it back to the beach , then on back to Membury.

What I don’t know. When Tom mentioned he was with Lt. George Ford, would the gliders be marked such that his glider would be marked “#1” because George was “squadron leader”? It would be terrific if some of the archive photographs could find something. I would like to get an idea of the landing area Tom came down in. Recently, one of Tom’s boxes of military information was sent to my wife and I poured over the documents looking for some clue to his landing site.

Some years ago, I was able to find/contact Mr. Tipton “Tip” Randolph who was in the same squadron as my father-in-law, Thomas J. Moore Jr. He was very helpful and gracious with information/photographs. In one photograph, he showed the landing area with Horsa gliders and names of those that landed nearby. I scanned the image and would like to post it for ideas suggestions on were this is located. By posting the image, I do not wish to offend Mr. Randolph (if this information is incorrect) or imply anything but, just to exchange information and narrow my search for Tom Moore’s landing area. As you will see, Mr. Randolph made some notes and color coded the gliders to help point out information. The image is not very good. It looks to be a xreox copy of a photograph. There is a better photograph of this in the post “Whitebeam Battlefield Research Forum / Research Currently Underway / Air Forces / American / Troop Carrier & Glider Units v / Some glider aerial photos from Facebook by Jonesy 01-25-2016. The very first image is what Mr. Randolph sent me. I will post the image from Mr. Randolph (I’m not sure how, so I may need some help) but, in the meantime, notes that Mr. Randolph sent me:
In landing order
#1 (The Horsa glider facing “left” with the dirt tack behind)
Ford – Moore
# 2 ( The Horsa glider to the rear with the tail in front of the ring wing)
Ellington – Gilbeath
#3 (The Horsa glider to the right of the Waco)
Randolph – Bic[/size]kett
#4 (The Horsa to the “top” of the field)
Ensor – Bowers
I am somewhat confused by the landing order and the photograph. Maybe others can address this. There are more notes but, I may need to wait until I can post his image.

I apologize for such a rambling query on Tom. I have more information but, think I should place it in another message……this is enough for this one!
Thank you very much.
Dave Frederick
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More notes from the Randolph image:
The Ellington glider landed back further to the left. Note the tail after it was blown off, is up in front of the wing. An unloading problem required a jeep pulling the load out. The glider moved back.
The CG4A was already there from the Detroit mission. Crew unknown.
The Ensor glider struck the tail of Ford spinning it 1 ½ turns
Note the bomb crater off the left wing of the CG4A. We never saw it. Had it been 150 feet to the left it would have been a different story.

 

Hello Everyone,

I completely forgot about this information

I found some information in a file Mr. Randolph had sent me years ago. Mr. Randolph noted that he was in calk number 17. My father-in-law Thomas J. Moore Jr. and "Squad Glider Officer", George Ford was in Horsa #1

On D Day +1, Mr Randolph was able to figure they were Northeast of a road between Les Forges and Ste Mere Eglise.

Thank you
Dave

 

Hi Pat,

I appreciate your posting this information.

On the copy I got from Mr. Randolph, he notes H1 as Ensor - Bowers, H2A and H2b as Ford - Moore, H3 as Randolph - Bickett, H4 as Ellington - Gilreath and W1 as a CG4A that was down already, crew unknown.
I had wondered about the "crater". Mr. Randolph's copy is very dark and hard to make out that feature. When I seen a better photograph, the feature did not resemble a "bomb crater". I wondered if Mr. Randolph mis-identifed it in the darkness....or?

Be Well
Dave
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Pat,

This is incredible information! I'll study this more closely.

I would like to email the image from Mr. Randolph to you. I apologize, I'm not sure how to do that. May I send it through this forum or is there another way to get it to you? The image is 1.3 MB. Is that OK to send?

Be Well
Dave

 

All,

I did a little checking on a roster Mr. Randolph sent me of the GPs that flew into Normandy. F/O Kenneth R Ensor was from CA. I did some looking on the Internet and found this information.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=143620574
As you will note, Kenneth Ensor's spouse is Jean Ensor.

Please note the photograph of Ken Ensor and the other GPs. The names of these GPs are (top) F/O Charles B Ellington ("Smoky") middle F/O Joe Gilreath and closest to camera F/O Kenneth Ensor. All these GPs are from the 436th 80th. All these men were referenced in the image of Mr. Randolph.

On another note: These same GPs are shown in the book D-Day Gliders by Philippe Esvelin. They are on page 131, bottom photograph.

I am curious of the origin of these phographs and if there are more..?

I have no information on Bowers yet.

Thank you
Be Well
Dave