Everyone has a story to tell. For each of us, there are memories of warmth and joy, sadness and pain, triumph, and loss. While every story is remarkable and unique, there are some that stand out in the vast ocean of tales. These are the stories we crave to hear. Books are written and movies made to inspire us, challenge us, bring us hope. These are the stories that are passed down from generation to generation. The main characters have superior drive and passion, deep suffering with beautiful redemption. Thomas Daniel McMahon had a life that fulfills all the categories required of such an epic tale.
When meeting Tom, it was hard not to be immediately impressed (and perhaps a bit intimidated) with his demeanor and presence. He had piercing blue eyes, a notable beard, and symbolic tattoos that covered his body. His sharp wit could both make one laugh or shake their head with incredulity. As in every great story, his included moments of crushing defeat and dark despair, but also heroic victory. His adventure was full of love and loss, heartache, mystery, triumph. It is one that ends in redemption and grace.
Tom was born June 19th, 1925 to James and Adelaide McMahon in New York City. The stories he could tell of his adventures growing up with his twin sister Andrea and their older brother Jimmy, or of his father, a New York City cop, would alone be enough to fill a book. He talked about moving to Long Island as a kid, when there was nothing but open fields. He had wished that his father could have bought more land. He proudly boasted of New York City street fights as well as graduating from Xavier Military School.
As Tom grew into his early and mid-teens, there were the rumors of war and sounds of distant troubles. The naïve kids heard their parents talk about the Germans, and they wondered what could be done. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Tom watched as his older brother and their friends who were of age join the war effort. There was an air of excitement and duty throughout the city. A national pride and indignation swelled in the spirits of all who honored the flag of the United States of America. Tom, of course, did not want to be left behind. The only problem for him in 1941 was the fact that he was only 16 years old, too young to join the war. That, however, would not stop him from finding a way to manipulate the system and quickly find himself in an Army boot camp far away from home.
By the time Tom was 17, he was stationed in Thurleigh, England. A young man, too young to vote or buy cigarettes, and barely old enough to drive a vehicle was flying missions over France and Belgium as a tail gunner in a B17 with the prestigious 306th bombing group. Instead of wondering what girl to take to the school dance, he was up in the air praying he would survive the next mission. On his thirteenth mission, the 306th was sent to bomb railroad factories of Ateliers D’Hellemmes at Lille, France. Although the mission was a success, Tom’s plane, “Four of a Kind”, would not return. While taking heavy flack Tom’s plane was torn in half by a neighboring B17 that had been crippled by enemy shelling. This was a defining life moment he would later tattoo on his chest, an image of the burning tail section of his plane falling from the sky. The sole survivor, he miraculously made his way out of a plummeting plane and parachuted to the ground, landing over 40 miles away from where the wreckage finally landed.
Tom eluded capture for four months as he worked with the French and Belgium Resistance before German secret police arrested him and his accomplices as alleged spies. Since he did not have any identification on him, he was sent to St. Gilles civilian prison in France until the Germans verified his identity. Eventually he was transferred to various POW camps throughout Europe. He endured a combined 229 days in solitary confinement along with extensive ongoing physical and psychological torture. The mere fact that he never gave up hope, finally escaping from a German prisoner of war camp on his 7th attempt is more than remarkable. It’s almost unbelievable. To hear the details of each escape attempt is both inspiring and gut wrenching.
This part of his multi-faceted story is legendary on its own. However, his time at war represents less than five years of his 95. It took months of recovering, but despite all odds, he survived the war. His parents, who had been told both sons were killed, received a call that Tom was indeed alive. They would also learn that Jimmy had survived. The sons that they had grieved would be coming home.
When Tom returned, he married his first wife, Winifred, a nurse where he had been hospitalized. Together, in quick succession, they had 3 sons and 3 daughters. He became a firefighter in New York, where he was given the nickname “The Foot” because of his propensity to kick open doors and rush into burning buildings. In his mid 30’s, he convinced his wife to leave their home in Long Island and move the entire family to Carlsbad, California. Restless, he was looking for a fresh start. He was going to hit the West Coast beaches and learn to surf. In true Tom fashion, he would later tell his grandchildren, with a twinkle in his sharp blue eyes, that he had really fled New York because the mob was after him.
Whatever the case, a station wagon was not exactly roomy with six children, two adults, and all the belongings you could cram in between and underneath the seats. They had one more passenger, of course; the family cat. They drove 3,000 miles with nothing but hope for a more fulfilling path. When they arrived on the coast of California, a land full of opportunity, wonder, and warmth, it truly did seem like they had reached paradise.
Not all stories are predictable, though. Many years after moving to the west coast, heartache and brokenness drove him this time north. He moved away from his wife and family and into an isolated part of California named Shelter Cove. While one could speculate as to why he left southern California, he seemed to find rest on the lost coast. Eventually, he also made peace with the family he’d left behind. In time, he met his second wife, Katie, fathering 2 children in his early 60’s. Tom found solitude and peace surfing on the rough waters of ‘The Cove’ well into his 80’s. Tom and Katie enjoyed 35 years of marriage until his passing on February 14th, 2021.
It seems like an injustice to so quickly recap the life of such a monumental man. Each phase was so full, so substantial. It is important to hear the story of Thomas McMahon and learn about his place in history. This was a man who paid a great sacrifice for the free people of the world. That sacrifice came with a price of pain, suffering, and loss. But that is not the end of his story. He was a tail gunner, a POW, a firefighter. He was a husband, a father to 9 children. He became a founding member of the Carlsbad surf club, and he was a junior high school teacher for 12 years. He taught night classes at Camp Pendleton for the Marines stationed there. He had approximately 45 years of sobriety and mentored many people who were seeking their own sobriety. This was a man with a seemingly unending list of accomplishments. To hear about a man who went through a darkness most of us could not imagine, even on our worst days, and to know he emerged with a spirit of adventure and a twinkle in his eyes, is a story worth knowing.
