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Contact Info
Home Town Bridger, Montana
Last Address Missoula, Montana
Date of Passing Jun 22, 2016
Location of Interment Sunset Memorial Gardens - Billings, Montana
He was the flight engineer/gunner in crew #7 on the Doolittle Raid. He was the only member of his crew not injured in the ditching of their aircraft. He was of great help to his crewmates and was awarded the Silver Star for his efforts. Later he served in England and North Africa but his units are unknown.
(Citation Needed) - SYNOPSIS: Corporal David J. Thatcher (ASN: 19019573), United States Army Air Forces, was awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving with the 1st Special Aviation Project (Doolittle Raider Force), on 18 April 1942, in China. Corporal Thatcher aided the crew of Lieutenant Lawson's bomber evade Japanese troops following their crash-landing in China subsequent to the raid.
Division: Doolittle Tokyo Raider Force Crew No. 7 (Plane #40-2261, "The Ruptured Duck", target Tokyo) 95th Bomb Sq. L-R: Lt. Charles L. McClure, navigator; Lt. Ted W. Lawson, pilot; Lt. Robert S. Clever, bombardier; Lt. Dean Davenport, copilot; Sgt. David J. Thatcher, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Corporal David J. Thatcher (ASN: 19019573), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement as Engineer/Gunner of a B-25 Bomber of the 1st Special Aviation Project (Doolittle Raider Force), while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on 18 April 1942. Corporal Thatcher with 79 other officers and enlisted men volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on himself and the military service.
World War II/European-African-Middle Eastern Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
May / 1945
Description The European-Mediterranean-Middle East Theater was a major theater of operations during the Second World War (between December 7, 1941, and March 2, 1946). The vast size of Europe, Mediterranean and Middle East theatre saw interconnected naval, land, and air campaigns fought for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The fighting in this theatre lasted from 10 June 1940, when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, until 2 May 1945 when all Axis forces in Italy surrendered. However, fighting would continue in Greece – where British troops had been dispatched to aid the Greek government – during the early stages of the Greek Civil War.
The British referred to this theatre as the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre (so called due to the location of the fighting and the name of the headquarters that controlled the initial fighting: Middle East Command) while the Americans called the theatre of operations the Mediterranean Theatre of War. The German official history of the fighting is dubbed 'The Mediterranean, South-East Europe, and North Africa 1939–1942'. Regardless of the size of the theatre, the various campaigns were not seen as neatly separated areas of operations but part of one vast theatre of war.
Fascist Italy aimed to carve out a new Roman Empire, while British forces aimed initially to retain the status quo. Italy launched various attacks around the Mediterranean, which were largely unsuccessful. With the introduction of German forces, Yugoslavia and Greece were overrun. Allied and Axis forces engaged in back and forth fighting across North Africa, with Axis interference in the Middle East causing fighting to spread there. With confidence high from early gains, German forces planned elaborate attacks to be launched to capture the Middle East and then to possibly attack the southern border of the Soviet Union. However, following three years of fighting, Axis forces were defeated in North Africa and their interference in the Middle East was halted. Allied forces then commenced an invasion of Southern Europe, resulting in the Italians switching sides and deposing Mussolini. A prolonged battle for Italy took place, and as the strategic situation changed in southeast Europe, British troops returned to Greece.
The theatre of war, the longest during the Second World War, resulted in the destruction of the Italian Empire and altered the strategic position of Germany resulting in numerous German divisions being deployed to Africa and Italy and total losses (including those captured upon final surrender) being over half a million. Italian losses, in the theatre, amount to around to 177,000 men with a further several hundred thousand captured during the process of the various campaigns. British losses amount to over 300,000 men killed, wounded, or captured, and total American losses in the region amounted to 130,000.
