As far from her classroom in Duluth, Minnesota as she could be, Leona Thomey lost her life in a crash upon landing. Leona had stepped forward when the call for help was needed, leaving behind her beloved high school and its students. She, and 27 others, many of them army nurses, were killed on impact in Lido, India, half-a-world from home.

New Year’s Day 1902 dawned with joy at the Thomey household. Leona Amelia Thomey was born to teacher Nicholas “Nic” Thomey and his wife, Margaret “Maggie” Thomey, on January 1st in Rockville, Minnesota.[i] Leona was the second child in the family. At home was her big sister Alma Appolonia Thomey, born in 1900. The family lived on a farm in a home they owned.[ii]

The following year, the girls were joined by a brother, Pierre Nicholas Thomey, born in 1903.

The family grew again in 1907 when Margaret Mary Leahy James was born. By the time of her birth, the family lived outside of St. Cloud.[iii]

It was a tumultuous year for the family in 1910. Leona’s oldest sister, Alma, passed away at the age of 10. Research did not reveal the cause of her death. That same year, the family added another daughter, Catherine M. Thomey Mayers. The youngest sibling, Lorraine Marie Thomey Winter was born in 1915.

As the 1920s roll around, Leona’s father, Nic, was supporting his five children and his wife by working at City Hall as the County Auditor, overseeing the finances of the county. The family lived in a home that they owned. Leona and the next three older children are in school. Just little Lorraine was staying at home with Maggie. Leona’s brother, Pierre, was working in a grocery store. At this point, Leona is 18 and soon graduates from Cathedral High School.[iv]

HER LIFE BEFORE WWII

After high school, she furthered her education at St. Cloud State Teachers College. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Arts Degree.[v]

By the time the Great Depression years roll around, Leona, 28, is a public-school teacher in Duluth, Minnesota.[vi] Putting her degrees to good use, she became a member of the faculty at Denfeld High School in Duluth, Minnesota. She taught mathematics.[vii] Leona was living alone in an apartment she rented.[viii]

In 1931, the family enjoyed gathering for the family wedding of her brother, Pierre. Leona was the maid of honor in a yellow gown, hat and gloves with green pumps.[ix]

Europe must have been a special vacation for a Duluth high school teacher. She spent some of the summer of 1936 overseas. Leona left New York on the ship Berengaria and sailed to South Hampton, England, arriving June 23rd.[x] She returned on the ship Britannica, sailing out of Le Havre, France on a ten-day voyage to New York, arriving back August 18. There were a few other passengers listed from Duluth so it’s presumed she was traveling with others from her town.[xi]

By 1940, Leona has moved to an apartment on Jefferson Street in Duluth. She is still teaching high school at an annual salary of $2,187.[xii]

Leona enjoyed time with her family. She makes an almost 3-hour car trip home. A Thanksgiving newspaper story, in 1941, mentioned Leona as a guest of her brother, Pierre, and his wife, for dinner. Other guests included her mother and two of her sisters.[xiii]

HER WWII SERVICE STORY

On January 31, 1944, she took a leave of absence from teaching to join the Red Cross. This marked the end of her almost 16-year tenure at Denfeld High. She took her Red Cross training in Washington, D. C. On April 12, 1944, she sailed for India with the 69th Hospital Unit.[xiv] On August 3, 1944, her hometown paper noted her arrival in India.[xv] Two days later, August 5, 1944, the 69th became operational.[xvi] She was working at the hospital as a Red Cross staff aide.[xvii]

HER LAST DAY- March 4, 1945

On her last day, Leona was in route from a hospital along the Ledo road to work[xviii] in the India-Burma Theater area, where medical personnel were to care for wounded in Imphal. She was the only Red Cross worker aboard her plane.[xix] Her Douglas C-47 Skytrain (#41-18554), assigned to Air transport Command, 11th Combat Cargo Squadron,[xx] took off from Dinjan Army Airfield in Assam, India on a mission to ferry passengers. The plane came in too low during the last turn in the process of landing and crashed. Twenty-six passengers, including Leona, plus the crew of two were killed. Most of the passengers were Army nurses and medical personnel.[xxi]

The Stearns County Red Cross office was notified of her death with a telephone call from the Deputy Director of Personnel for the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C.[xxii]

She was 43.

MEMORIALS

Shortly after Leona Thomey’s death, a scholarship fund was begun by the staff at Denfeld High School. They collected money and set it aside to fund the scholarship.

Over the years, other teachers were remembered with fund contributions. To reflect everyone, the name was changed to the Greater Denfeld Foundation. In 2002, Leona Thomey’s memorial scholarship fund was remembered and her story told when an additional donation of 2.7 million from the will of Marie Saltwick. Marie began teaching at Denfeld High School in 1930. She taught math and English at the same time as Leona taught math. Marie worked there until her retirement.[xxiii]

Leona Thomey is listed in the Roll of Honor of St. Cloud, Minnesota in World War II.[xxiv] For decades the roll was published repeatedly in the St. Cloud newspaper.

HER FUNERAL AND GRAVE

Leona Thomey was buried the day after the crash, March 5, 1945, in Ledo, India.[xxv] At home, Reverend Polycarp Hansen, Leona’s uncle, officiated at a memorial mass at Holy Angels Church on March 13, 1945.[xxvi] Immediately after the mass, the Holy Angels Altar Society prayed the rosary for her.[xxvii]

In March of 1949, Leona Thomey’s body was returned to the United States, some four years after her death. A reinterment service and a requiem mass were held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on March 31st. Just as he did four years earlier, Leona’s uncle, Reverend Polycarp Hansen, officiated.

After the mass, her body was met at the Northern Pacific Depot in East Saint Cloud, Minnesota. From there, it was escorted to Calvary Cemetery for burial in a family plot.

LIST OF THOSE KILLED IN THE MARCH 4, 1945 LEDO, INDIA AIR CRASH

Capt. John J. Lukaszczyk, Co-Pilot
Capt. Nicholas J. Mandoukos, Pilot
1st Lt. Walter S. Amsler, Jr.
2nd Lt. Francis W. Blalock
2nd Lt. Julia S. Barnes
2nd Lt. Jane M. Blevins
2nd Lt. Evelyn M. Bruton
2nd Lt. Thomas E. Dellinger
2nd Lt. Rita F. Erard
2nd Lt. Evelyn M. Gerdrum
2nd Lt. Lyndell A. Glisson
1st Lt. Henry D. Hammack, Jr.
2nd Lt. Eathel L. Harris
2nd Lt. Helen J. Henley
1st Lt. Catherine M. Larkin
2nd Lt. Joseph R. Launier
1st Lt. Kathryn L.Lloyd
Capt. Charles W. Loucks
1st Lt. Grady A. Masters
2nd Lt. Kathryn L. McCarthy
2nd Lt. Ann L. Merrill
2nd Lt. Genevieve R. Monahan
Capt. Edward R. Moore
2nd Lt. Mayo C. Onken
Lt. Col. Jack P. Scott
Leona A. Thomey, Civilian, Red Cross
1st Lt. Robert W. Tibbetts

ABOUT THIS STORY

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

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