Thomas Glenn

Thomas Duke Glenn died in 2000 having lived a full and eventful life. He also left behind two books that  turned out to be his diaries from his time as a prisoner of war in World War II. Tommy’s daughter-in-law, Rosamund Glenn spent several years painstakingly typing up the pencil-written diaries. With the help of Tommy’s grandson, Rod Glenn, they compiled the P.O.W. Wartime Log of F/Sgt T.D.Glenn. The diary contains the unique personal account of Tommy’s life from the day he was shot down to the day he returned to England, including scanned images of his drawings and sketches, photos of the crew and of the graves of the two men who died. Tragic, funny and heart-breaking in turns, this is a moving insight into an ordinary man’s mind as he struggles to cope with the physical and mental pressures of enforced captivity and ultimately the fighting spirit that endures, a spirit that seems lost in today’s society.

P.O.W Wartime Log of F/Sgt T.D.Glenn

SR384, BU-A “Able” took off from Oulton shortly before midnight on 24th May 1944 and flew under radio silence at a height of 2,700m between Antwerp and Amsterdam.

Shortly after midnight the B-17 was picked up by the radar of German night fighter ace Oberleutnant (flying officer) Leube who went in pursuit of the bomber stream. Oblt Leube first shot the fuselage, then the wings, and finally the fortress exploded over the Oosterschelde near Antwerp at 00.57 hours.

As the plane was being attacked, Allan Hockley, the pilot, gave the order to “bail out”. Seven members of the crew left the stricken plane by parachute after which it crashed in the eastern Scheldt River.

Starting that day, this is “Tommy’s” diary of his time as a P.O.W.