Samuel Pittman Pitt Cole, Jr, son of Samuel Pittman and Winnie Beatrice Spencer
Enlisted – 21 Jan 1942, MacDill Field, Florida
Shot down over Grevenbroich, Germany
Buried – Oak Grove Cemetery, Roane Co., TN
Pitt Jr. attended Rockwood High School and grew up in Rockwood, Tennessee. He joined the service in Lakeland, Florida. He attended Florida Southern College for a while before he joined the service in WWII.
He was a 1st Lt, 36th AAF. He was a fighter pilot. He was flying a Thunderbolt P47D28RE with serial number 44-19862 the day he was shot down. The name of the plane that day had Susan on one side of the cowling and Fritz on the other side and Easy’s Angels on the tail. His assigned plane was Ida Red. He departed from strip A-89 on a dive bombing mission to Grevenbroich, Germany.
Statement from 1st Lt Walter W. Graham:
At approximately 1030 hours on 18 November 1944, our flight was making a dive bombing run on Grevenbroich, Germany. After I had released my bombs on the target, I pulled up and saw 1st Lt Samuel P. Cole crossing the town on his bombing run. There was intense light flak over the target and after he dropped his bombs and was passing out of town at an altitude of approximately 500 feet, I saw flames coming out of the left side of his engine just at the cowling. He flew a straight course of approximately North-Northwest for approximately four miles with his airplane burning badly, but he made no noticable attempt to pull up, and I saw his airplane hit the ground and explode violently just over a small hill approximately four miles from Grevenbroich. I saw no parachute and his canopy was closed when the airplane hit the ground.
- Rank: First Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 9 October 1921
- Date of death: 18 November 1944
- County: Roane
- Hometown: Rockwood
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 36th Fighter Group, 23rd Fighter Squadron
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Oak Grove Cemetery, Rockwood, Roane County, TN
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XVII, Top Panel
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