General Thomas S. Jeffrey Jr.

[Michael Faley]

It is my sad duty to inform the 100th Bomb Group Foundation the Gen Thomas S. Jeffrey has passed away at the age of 91. As Deputy Group Commander of the 390th Bomb Group he was instrumental in the formation, training, and deployment of the Group to England. He was the 390th's Command Pilot on the Schweinfurt mission "Black Thursday" October 14, 1943 for which the group received it second Distinguished Unit Citation. In May of 1944, Gen Jeffrey took over command of the 100th Bomb Group (The Hard Luck Group) and implemented procedures and discipline that made the 100th BG one of the best groups in the ETO. His leadership before during and after the War were inspiring to those who served under him and those who only had the pleasure of knowing him through our reunions. Our Condolences go our to Ann and Tom Jeffrey and we wish Gods speed. To read up more on General Jeffrey, please go to this page on our website.

http://www.100thbg.com/mainpages/crews/ ... frey_t.htm
http://www.390th.org/warstories/Jeffrey.htm

Ann Jeffrey has just informed us that Gen Jeffrey will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on April 22 at 3:00 with full honors. Our last greeting from the General was at the Nashville Reunion. We feel it is appropriate to print that greeting here:

Letter from Thomas S. Jeffrey (September 2007)
Greetings! Best wishes to the 100th Bomb Group reunion attendees! Wish I could be here to swap tall tales!

We are still hanging in here. We're ALL hanging in here; we're all still here, some just floating a little higher than before. As the old song says “…You take her up and spin her, and with an awful tear, your ship folds up, your wings fall off, but you will never care, for in two minutes max another pair you'll find… and dance with Pete and the angels sweet, and you will never mind.” Well, never mind this old age stuff. We'll get through it, we always have. We're tough, made of strong fiber and all of my colleagues of yesteryear proved it – showed what they were made of. We're all steadily turning over the great 100th Bomb Group Foundation to younger members with new ideas, a fresh outlook, and a desire to be a part of it. And that is as it should be. The proud tradition carries on. And we are pleased.

Thank you for carrying on, thank you for cataloging the history, and keeping the memories alive. I raise my glass to you all!

Maj. General Thomas S. Jeffrey Jr.
Commanding Officer
100th Bomb Group (H)

[Charlie]

What a loss! The Air Force maintains a very nice biography of Gen. Jeff at:

http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=5938

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There is also a topic thread in the main message board regarding Gen. Jeff:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=678

Charlie

[b17author]

God bless you, Gen. Jeffrey. You will be missed. May your final mission take you straight to the gates of Heaven.