Eldridge Wesley “Edgie” Thomas, Jr. was born at Los Angeles, California on May 20, 1924. His family called him 'Edgie'. His crewmates called him 'Edge'. His parents were Eldridge Wesley Thomas Sr (15 Aug 1895 – 9 May 1971), who was born at San Diego, California; and Ruth Amanda (Deutsche) Thomas (10 Jan 1901 – 19 Sep 1986), who was born at Will County, Illinois. His parents married at Azusa, Los Angeles County, California on June 14, 1923. He had a brother, James Arthur Thomas (23 May 1927 – 6 Mar 1995), who was also born at Los Angeles. By 1930 the family lived in a working-class neighborhood at 1211 Fourth Street, Antioch, Contra Costa County, California. His father worked as a heater and millwright at Columbia Steel Company in nearby Pittsburg, California.

By May 1940 he lived with his mother's father, August G. Deutsche (30 Nov 1876 – 11 May 1954), at Sanger, Fresno County, California, where he helped his grandfather grow alfalfa on farmland that belonged to his parents. He planned to attend agricultural school when he returned from the service, and make this farm a success. He graduated from Sanger Union High School in June 1942, and registered for the draft at Antioch, California on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighed 170 pounds, and had brown eyes and red hair. He was single when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps at San Francisco, California on July 23, 1942. After he left for the war, his parents moved to the farm in Sanger. When he was killed, his parents sold the farm and moved to Los Angeles, California.

His first assignment was the Army Air Forces Photography School at Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado. He completed the course by November 1942, and went on to Aviation Cadet training. He completed Army Air Forces Classification and Preflight training at Maxwell Army Air Base in Montgomery, Alabama; Primary pilot training at Decatur, Alabama; Basic pilot training at Greenwood Army Air Field, Mississippi; and Advanced twin-engine pilot training at Blytheville Army Air Field, Arkansas. He completed the course in Class 43-H at Blytheville, and received his wings and commission on August 30, 1943. He went on to four-engine heavy bomber transition training in the B-24 'Liberator' bomber at Smyrna Army Air Field, Tennessee in Sep–Oct 1943.

He was assigned a crew (probably at Kearns Army Air Base near Salt Lake City, Utah) and by December 1943 began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. On January 1, 1944, his crew was assigned to the 836th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. At Alamogordo he was removed from first pilot status and was assigned as copilot on the heavy bomber crew of Lieutenant Winston S. Rogers in the 836th Bomb Squadron. The 487th Bomb Group completed B-24 crew training at Alamogordo, and deployed to England in March 1944. The Rogers crew flew B-24H 42-52625 overseas from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

At Lavenham the Rogers crew became a lead crew. Then Lt Rogers was taken off the crew to become Operations Officer and an Air Leader in the 836th Bomb Squadron. He was eventually replaced as first pilot by Lt Paul M. Stults.

In July 1944 the 487th Bomb Group transitioned from flying the B-24 'Liberator' to the B-17 'Flying Fortress'. On July 20, 1944, the Stults crew flew a training mission in one of the new aircraft, B-17G 43-37840.

Lt Thomas and four other men aboard the B-17 perished when their aircraft collided with Lt Ozbolt's B-24H 42-51197, which was on a practice bombing mission at the Ducks Hall bombing range near Lavenham. The B-24 spun in and crashed near Cavendish, England. Five men died in the crash. Lt Stults, his left wing on fire, attempted to reach Lavenham Airfield, but crashed on approach to the base in a wheat field near the Officers Club and Clapstile Farmhouse. Lt Stults and Lt Thomas were thrown from the aircraft before impact, and their bodies were not found for some days.

Lt Thomas is now buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

B-17G 42-37840 crew:
• Stults, Paul M – 1/Lt – Pilot – KIA
• Thomas Jr, Eldridge W – 2/Lt – Copilot – KIA
• Parris, Howard L – Lt – Navigator – Safe
• Heil, Charles A – 2/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Walters, Lester R – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Brown, Melvin R – T/Sgt – Engineer – Safe
• Schaffer, Charles L – Sgt – Radio Operator – Safe
• Knight, Frank M – Sgt – Gunner – Safe
• Brown, Julius E – Sgt – Gunner – Safe
• Castillo, Pete J – T/Sgt – Autopilot Mechanic – KIA
• Grantham, Russell A – Lt – Squadron Bombardier – Safe

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com