By Deborah Larsen
Thomas Edward Madden
Thomas Edward Madden was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, on April 6, 1925, the son of Charles and Eva Brandel Madden. His family moved to Rochester in about 1931 and lived on Fourth Street. Thomas attended Rochester High School and graduated with the class of 1942.
Thomas was a student at the University of Detroit before entering the service in May 1944. He was assigned to the Army Air Forces and trained as a radar navigator on the B-17 Flying Fortress. He joined the 772nd Bombardment Squadron of the 463rd Bomb Group, based at Celone, Italy.
On October 12, 1944, Thomas was the radar navigator on a B-17 making a bombing run on Bologna, Italy. The bomber was hit by anti-aircraft fire, and the crew of 10 bailed out. The War Department notified their families that they were missing in action.
Thomas was captured by the Axis powers and held as a prisoner of war at Stalag 7A near the town of Moosberg, Germany. Stalag 7A was the largest prison camp operated by the Nazis and held as many as 70,000 internees. Thomas was able to write home to Rochester to let his parents know that he was alive and well.
On April 29, 1945, the U.S. Army’s 14th Armored Division captured the camp and liberated its prisoners. Soon after the surrender of Germany a few days later, Thomas’s parents were notified that he was safely in American hands again. At the same time, they learned that Thomas’s brother, Edward, who had also been in a German POW camp, was in a hospital in England.
When Thomas was discharged from military service in November 1945, he had served a total of 18 months in uniform, eight of those as a prisoner. He was 20 years old.
After the war, Thomas completed his college degree, married the former Virginia Pearsall and started a family, and worked for Barton-Malow for 38 years.
Thomas Edward Madden died on June 9, 2019, at the age of 94 and was laid to rest at Great Lakes National Cemetery.