Capt. Thomas F. Neal and John Pratt
Capt. Thomas F. Neal and John Pratt
Danville, Va., May 17. – Capt. Thomas F. “Jeeter” Neal, of Pittsylvania, one of Virginia's top-ranking fighter pilots, was missing in action today.
His mother, Mrs. T. Fitz[gerald] Neal, of Spring Garden, received the official telegram — but it was not news to her. Last Thursday a member of Captain Neal's squadron wrote her a letter in which he deplored the fact that his colleague was missing. None of his buddies had seen him shot down and the Bulldog Squadron, part of the Eighth Air Force stationed in England, felt sure he would turn up safe.
Neal, who once worked in a Chatham store, had six swastikas on the fuselage of his Mustang. He was credited with one “triple” — the day in April when after shooting down two German planes on a combat mission he closed with a third. But he never fired a shot, he said later, for the German pilot became rattled and his plane got beyond control and zoomed into the earth where it blew up. Captain Neal, who had followed him down, then strafed a German train before taking off for home.
As news of his being missing in action reached here, a dispatch from the Eighth Air Force fighter station brought word that he had just received an Oak Leaf Cluster to his Distinguished Flying Cross for courageous and gallant action on combat missions. He also had only recently met Gen. “Tooey” Spaatz, Undersecretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., and John Pratt, of Fredericksburg, State Department advisor who recently inspected the squadron.
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