George Thomas Coates was born, 16 March 1920 at Chicago, Illinois to the parents of George M Coates and Margaret L Barry. He was an early volunteer for the service, joining in October 1941, listing two years of high school, reporting at Chicago. He trained with the Army Air Corps as a Radio Operator on bombers.

It appears that he arrived in England with the 410th Bomb Squadron, 94th Bomb Group in May 1943, perhaps at RAF Earls Colne in Essex. On 29 May 1943, Lieutenant Hecox’s crew took off from RAF Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. It was their 5th mission together and their target, along with over 70 B-17s, was the German submarine yard at Rennes, France. They were shot down by enemy fighters over France. Only one crew member managed to bail out. The plane crashed near Geraux, France.

1-Lt. Hecox’s Crew, B-17, #42-29476, 29 May 43, Shot down over France

1-Lt. Max Leroy Hecox, Pilot, O-727989, from California

2-Lt. Roland Vincent Vanderhook, Co-Pilot, O-793203, from Nebraska

2-Lt. Charles Bruin Harrison, Navigator, O-664302, from New York

1-Lt. Ronald Graham McCoy, Bombardier, O-731524, from Pennsylvania

S-Sgt. George Thomas Coates, Radio Op, 16035138, from Illinois

S-Sgt. Harry Delbert Symmonds, Ball Turret Gunner, 37195169, from Iowa

S-Sgt. Fred Gibson Snell, Waist Gunner, 35452643, from Ohio

S-Sgt. Eugene McCoy, Waist Gunner, 35470766, from Ohio

Sgt. Joseph G Tashjian, Tail Gunner, 12060446, from New York

Maj. Randolph Connie Barthold, Observer, O-430560, from Texas

T-Sgt. Herman Philbeck, FltEng/TopTurrGunner, 15043341, from Indiana (POW)

Sergeant Philbeck was a POW at Stalag 17-B and was released around May 1945. After the war, he worked for the Pentagon and as a police chief in South Carolina and he died in January 1997.

The crash site of Lieutenant Hecox’s crew was memorialized on the 50 year anniversary date of the crash with a carved stone monument along the road near Geraux, France. Staff Sergeant George Thomas Coates was interred at the Brittany American Cemetery, France. His Service Number was 16035138.

References

From - ancestry.com:

Family Trees

From - Fold3.com:

Service Record

From - newspapers.com:

Chicago Tribune, 28 October 1943

Online Resources:

Honorstates.org

B17flyingfortress.de: Loss report of B-17, #42-29476

AmericanAirMuseum: B-17, #42-29476 history and crew list

Usawarmemorial.org: B-17 crash memorial at Champs Geraux, France

Findagrave:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56349970/george-thomas-coates

Findagrave Memorial ID: 56349970

SBTS:

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 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please email: feedback@storiesbehindthestars.org.

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George T Coates