Ernest Eugene Gough

1913 - 1943  (30 years)

• Name	Ernest Eugene Gough  [1]
  Birth	13 Jul 1913
  Gender	Male
  Death	1 Aug 1943	Ploesti, Romania
  Origins
  Patriarch & Matriarch	Stephen Gough,   b. Abt 1630, County Gloucester England d. Between 22 Oct 1700 and 2 Jan 1701, St. Bernards, Newtown Hundred, St Mary's Co., Md.  (Age 70 years)  (6 x Great Grandfather)  Mildred C. Turner,   b. 26 Oct 1892   d. 2 Jan 1970, Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky  (Age 77 years)  (Mother)
  Person ID	I3222	1665 GOUGH/GOFF (US-MD-STM/US-VA-LOU) I-Y6902-A
  Last Modified	20 Oct 2023

  
  

  Father	Ernest Joseph Gough,   b. 27 Nov 1890, Daviess County, Kentucky d. 2 Aug 1974, Daviess County, Kentucky (Age 83 years)
  Mother	Mildred C. Turner,   b. 26 Oct 1892   d. 2 Jan 1970, Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky (Age 77 years)
  Family ID	F1770	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Soldier's last letter finally comes home Road Trips 09/10/04 By Steve Vied Messenger-Inquirer Ernest Eugene Gough's last letter to his parents was one he hoped they would never receive. Written July 31, 1943 -- the day before he was to board a B-24 Liberator bomber for an 18-hour flight to a far away target, Gough understood the risks and chose to give his family a loving good-bye in case he didn't return. Tragically, the letter did make its way to his parents, Ernest J. and Mildred Gough of 2300 Parrish Avenue. Their son, a 30-year-old radio operator, did indeed go on a dangerous mission the day after penning the four-page letter on Army Air Force stationary. His bomber did not return from the mission and Gough was never seen alive again. "They never recovered," Milton Gough of Owensboro said of his parents. "It was terribly hard. He was outgoing, everybody loved him. Just a great guy." The "fairly dangerous" mission Eugene Gough referred to in his final letter home, reprinted on this page in its entirety, was all that and more. The famous raid by 178 low-flying B-24 Liberator bombers against the German-controlled oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania, on Aug. 1, 1943, was called Operation Tidal Wave. It involved 1,763 volunteer airmen for the 2,400-mile, 18-hour flight from Libya in North Africa to central Romania. So crucial to the Nazi war machine was the Ploesti refineries that they were defended to the hilt with anti-aircraft batteries and fighter airplanes. After years of waiting for the original letter Tech Sgt. Ernest Eugene Gough wrote his mother before he was killed in a bombing raid over Ploesti, Romania, during World War II, Milton Gough, left, and his wife, Ruth, finally have the letter from his older brother in hand. Because the letter detailed what should happen to the possessions of Ernest Gough, the county kept it in their files as a last will and testament until last week. Photo by Gary Emord-Netzley, M-I American bombers hit the target hard, but paid a terrible price. Fifty-two B-24s were lost and 550 airmen were killed, missing or shot down, according to accounts of the battle. A year after he went missing the Army declared Gough dead. Eventually his body was returned to Owensboro. He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery. His parents died in the 1970s. What became of Ernest Eugene Gough's poignant last letter is yet another story. Since it amounted to his last will and testament, the original letter was filed in the Daviess County Courthouse, where it stayed for more than 50 years until last week. It took a court order signed by Daviess District Judge Joe Castlen to get the faded letter released to Milton Gough, Ernest Gough's younger brother. Brothers Ernest, Keith and Milton Gough all served in World War II. Milton and Keith survived the war. Before the war, Ernest Gough worked in the oil industry and was engaged to be married. Having his big brother's final letter means a lot to Milton Gough. He is preparing copies of it for his twin sister Mildred and the niece and nephew mentioned in the letter. Milton Gough and his wife Ruth named their son after Ernest Gough and he will get a copy as well. On one wall of Milton's farmhouse home off Kentucky 54, a shadow box contains pictures of Ernest Gough, newspaper clippings about him and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster he received posthumously for his part in the Ploesti raid. "I've been trying get that letter for years," Milton Gough said. "It just killed my mother not to have it." Years ago the Gough family was given a typewritten copy of the letter, and later Milton Gough received a photocopy of it. But he never gave up trying to get the original. "I'm tenderhearted and I cry pretty near every time I read it," he said. "It belongs to my family and nobody but me and my sister care anything about it. I wanted the original on the Air Force paper. . . . I feel better now." Ernest Gough's requests in the letter were carried out to the letter, Milton Gough said. One of his possessions was a guitar he liked to play before he went to war. Milton Gough's daughter has it to this day.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3779] Find a Grave.