Tom Hedley was born at Eastland, Texas in 1919 to Thomas G Hedley (father) and Sackett Healey (mother). He enlisted in the US Army on January 19, 1943 and on May 6, 1943 he achieved a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery. He applied for the flight cadet programme and underwent flying training at Garden City Kansas (Class 44D). On completion of training in 1944 he was awarded his pilot wing and assigned initially to the 4th Air Force and later to the 8th Air Force with 423rd Bomb Squadron, 306th Bomb group (Heavy) on B17 Aircraft.



Tom arrived at USAAF Station 111, RAF Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England on 28 Nov 1944 with his crew and flew 20 combat missions over Europe. He was a Flight Commander in April 1945. On June 24, 1945 he was involved in a taxiing accident at RAF Thurleigh in B17G 44-8724 'Princess Pep', when - unknown to the crew - a wing tip demolished a crew chief's duty hut on the apron area. He went on to serve on Operation 'Casey Jones' - photographic cover of post war Germany. He finished his military service on January 27, 1946 at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas.



Tom's service awards include the Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters, the EAME medal with 3 campaign stars, The American Defence Medal, The WW2 Victory Medal and Presidential Unit Citation Bar with one Oak leaf.



After the War Tom lived at Houston, Texas and worked as a Geologist with an Oil Company. Tom tragically passed away on June 4, 1960.