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A Crash
That Changed Everything
aka The "Band of Brothers" Crash
June 6th,
1944
 "The
Day of Days"...
Born in Philadelphia
on July 8, 1921, Thomas Meehan was an artist from the start. He trained at the
Philadelphia School of Industrial Art to become a commercial artist, but when
the United States entered World War II, he joined the Cavalry while it was still
mounted, but found himself in a tank, not so much to his liking. He
managed to get transferred to the infantry, as a paratrooper, and assigned to
Company "B" of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in England.
| The transfer of
Captain Herbert Sobel to command a parachute training school for non-combat
officers created a leadership void in "Easy" Company, and the higher-ups choose
First Lieutenant Meehan to assume command. On the evening of June 5th,1944, 1st LT Thomas
Meehan boarded the lead C-47 of their formation, Plane #66, to be
parachuted in Normandy, along with the company's staff made up of 16
paratroopers, and the C-47's flight crew of five. Piloting the
'Dakota' was Lt. Harold Cappelluto
Before
takeoff on D-Day, Meehan wrote a letter and handed it out the door of
the C-47 to be sent to his wife: |
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Dearest Anne:
In a few hours I'm
going to take the best company of men in the world into France.
We'll give the bastards hell. Strangely, I'm not particularly
scared. But in my heart is a terrific longing to hold you in my
arms.
I love you
Sweetheart-forever.
Your Tom |
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In the Stephen
Ambrose book, Band of Brothers, Lt. Frank Deflita,
the pilot of the plane following Plane #66, remembered: "As we flew over
Normandy, DCA's started shooting at us, and Harold's plane got it several times.
I could see Flak shrapnels going straight through his plane. After maintaining
its course and speed for a while, the plane left the formation and slowly
initiated a right turn. I followed it with my eyes and noticed its landing
lights coming on, I thought it was going to be all right. Then, suddenly, it
came crashing down a hedgerow and instantly exploded."
| Plane #66 had been
hit by German ground fire near St Mere Eglise. The plane crashed into the ground
between Beuzeville au Plain and Haut Fornel. Henry Margerie,
Mayor of Beuzeville au Plain, witnessed the accident. He also remembers: "As we
awakened to Flak shooting and planes flying over the area, I saw a plane close
to the village which seemed to be trouble and attempted to land. I lost sight of
it for a brief moment and then heard a loud explosion. The plane had crashed on
a hedgerow bordering a field near the village. It burnt for three days, and the
heat created by the fire made it impossible for us to approach."
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Click here to see the
full flight crew and paratroopers manifest of Plane #66
The loss of virtually the entire senior staff of the
company... Meehan was buried with 22 others in
Ste. Mere-Eglise. But in 1952, the remains of nearly all abroad were brought
back to the United States and reburied.
Meehan's remains are buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Plot 84
0 25-31), located just south of St. Louis, Missouri, along with those of the
C-47 aircrew and his fellow paratroopers.
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Only
the remains of the pilot, Lt. Harold Cappelluto,
were identifed and buried in Europe at the American Cemetery
at Colleville-sur-Mer.
A monument was dedicated on June 6th, 2000, at
Beuzeville, listing the names of those aboard the downed C-47. The
memorial is in the shape of an aircraft's tail.
The saga of "Easy" Company became the focal point
of Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers novel, and acclaimed 10-part
television miniseries, co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
The miniseries of Band of Brothers first aired in 2001 on HBO and still runs frequently on
different TV channels around the world |
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