Ferebee, Thomas Wilson.

Ferebee, Thomas Wilson, born on 07-11-1918 in Mocksville, North Carolina, as the third of eleven children raised in a Methodist family of William Flavius “Flave”Ferebee (1891–1979) and his wife Zella , born Ward Ferebe (1892–1982). Thomas had one sister and tweo brothers, Maxine Ferebee Pruett (1928-2021), William Ward “Bill” Ferebee (1920–2017) and Joseph Bryan “Joe” Ferebee (1933–2019). Thomas had one son Dr Thomas Wilson Ferebee Jr. (1947-2005) .

. A knee injury kept him from service in the infantry but Thomas was accepted into flight training. After two years of flight school, Ferebee was assigned as a bombardier in the European theater. In the summer of 1944, he was recruited by Colonel Paul Tibbets, Tibbets died old age 92, on 01-11-2007, to be part of the 509^th Composite Group  which was formed to deliver the atomic bomb. Sergeant Georg Robert Caron as the tailgunner, Wyatt Duzenbury the flight engineer, Richard N Nelson

  the radio operator. At 8:15 a.m. Major Ferebee opened the Enola Gay’s bomb bay doors sending the 9.000 pound atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” toward the Aioi Bridge near Hiroshima, Japan. Forty-three seconds later the atomic bomb struck its target killing 80.000 Japanese. Three days later another crew dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, Japan killing another 140.000. Five days later the Japanese surrendered, ending World War II. The Enola gay pilot Paul Tibbets died at the very old age of 92, on 01-11-2007 and didn’t want a funeral or gravestone. The crew of the Enola Gay returned to their base in the Mariana Island where they were greeted by several Generals and Admirals. Three days later on the morning of August 9, 1945, another B-29 Super Fortress named “Bockscar” out of the 393^rd Squadron  under the command of Major Charles Sweeney dropped a second nuclear bomb nicknamed “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki, Japan killing more than 140.000. Sweeney died age 84, on 16-07-2004.

Death and burial ground of Ferebee, Thomas Wilson.