Thomas C. Costello

SECOND LIEUTENANT THOMAS C. COSTELLO was born in 1914 in New Jersey to William J. and Mary Costello. The second of three sons, he was bracketed by William Jr. and Edward. In 1920 the family lived at 303 New Jersey Road in the Morgan Village section of what was then Center Township, in Camden County NJ. This neighborhood was made part of the City of Camden at a later date. In 1920 William Costello Sr. worked as a clerk at a shipyard. By 1930 the family had purchased a home in adjacent Gloucester City NJ at 624 Hunter Street, and the elder Costello was working as an invoice clerk at a department store. Older brother William Jr., then 18, was working as an apprentice in lumber sales.

A star baseball player in school and in the local Camden County League, Thomas Costello was a graduate of LaSalle prep and college, where he also had played baseball and basketball. He had played ball for the Gloucester and Collingswood teams in the Camden County Baseball League during the late 1930s and early 1940s.  In 1938, while playing on the Collingswood team, he was a teammate of Jimmy Spillane and long-time Woodrow Wilson High School coach Grover Wearshing. Thomas Costello was working as a shipping clerk before entering the United States Army in April of 1942.

Thomas Costello served initially at Fort Dix NJ, then at Fort Riley KS, and on to Fort Bliss TX, where he was chosen for flight officers' candidate school. He was sent along with over 2400 other men to Miami FL, where he was a member of Group C, Squadron 14 of the Army Air Forces Technical Training Command. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant at Miami FL on December 9, 1942. He was initially assigned as a physical education director, until being sent overseas as a transportation officer with the 553rd Bomber Squadron, 386th Bomber Group, Medium. 

Thomas Costello was killed in an accident while serving in England on June 7, 1943. He was survived by his parents and brothers. Edward was a Sergeant, stationed in California with the United States Army at the time.  

Camden Courier-Post * June 1, 1938 * Camden County League Baseball

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Thanks to Stephen Burris for his help in creating this page.