The "Lady Be Good" was a B-24 Liberator bomber that flew for the U.S. Army Air Force during World War 2. On April 4, 1943, it was returning from a bombing raid on Naples, Italy to its base in Libya when it overflew the base and was lost. A search and rescue mission failed to find any trace of the B-24 or its crew of nine men - including 2nd Lt. Robert F. Toner of North Attleborough, the co-pilot of the "Lady Be Good."
It wasn't until November 9, 1958 that the wreckage of the bomber was finally spotted in the Libyan Desert. It had flown more than 440 miles into the desert when its fuel ran out. A recovery team visited the crash site on May 26, 1959. Although the plane was broken into two pieces it was found to be remarkably well preserved. No human remains were found on board the plane.
The remains of Lt. Toner and four of his crew were later found 85 miles from the crash site. A diary recovered from Toner's pocket explained that the men had parachuted out of the plane when the aircraft's direction finder failed. In the darkness, the crew thought they were bailing out over the Mediterranean Sea. Toner's last entry was dated April 12, 1943. His diary detailed much of the crew's suffering during their eight-day trek through the Libyan Desert.
On May 24, 1964, a boulder with a plaque honoring Toner was dedicated at the junction of North Avenue and Lt. Robert F. Toner Boulevard. Decades later, due to a road-widening project, the Toner Memorial Boulder and Plaque were moved to Simmons Memorial Park at the junction of Commonwealth Avenue and Lyons Way in the Attleborough Falls section of North Attleborough.
