Meet Colonel Thomas Ferebee at his Memorial Bridge
Thomas Wilson Ferebee was born on a farm outside Mocksville, North Carolina, as the third of eleven children raised in a Methodist family. In 1935, at age 17, he attended Leas - Macree College in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Talented in athletics since childhood, he earned awards in track,basketball, and football. After training for a small position with the Bosten Red Soxs and not making the team, he joined the Army. A knee injury kept him from service in the infantry but he was accepted into flight training. After two years of flight school, Ferebee was assigned as a bombardier in the European theater, completing more than 60 bombing missions. In the summer of 1944, he was recruited by Colonel Talbots to be part of the 509th Composite Bomber Group which was formed to drop the atomic bomb.