2d Lt Samuel Jerome Foreman
DOB unknown – January 21, 1945
Class: 44-E-SE
Graduation Date: May 23, 1944
Graduation Rank: Flight Officer
Unit: 332nd Fighter Group, 100th Fighter Squadron
Service # O-2270932
Samuel J. Foreman of Tulsa, Oklahoma., graduated from flight training on May 23, 1944, at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, and soon deployed to Italy with the 100th Fighter Squadron. The squadron, based at Ramitelli Air Field, Italy, worked with other squadrons of the 332nd Fighter Group.
On Jan. 21, 1945, Capt. Edward Gleed led 46 P-51 Mustangs on a bomber escort mission to attack oil storage facilities near Vienna, Austria. Foreman was last seen over northern Yugoslavia after reporting engine trouble.
“Flight Officer Foreman started a turn with his number three man to escort him back to Ramitelli,” 1st Lt. Frank E. Roberts wrote in a military report. “His leader called and told him to return to formation. The last I saw of him; he was completing a 360-degree turn and had started back towards the formation.”
Foreman was reported missing and was later confirmed dead; he was posthumously promoted to second lieutenant. Foreman’s name is included on the Tablets of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery and Memorial in Italy. According to a government database, he was awarded an Air Medal and a Purple Heart for his military service.
