Thomas enlisted into the U.S.Navy on August 23, 1943. He was
18 years old and had recently graduated from Amherst High School in Amherst,
New York in May, 1945..
After basic training at Sampson Naval Base in Geneva, New
York Thomas was assigned to naval aviation and began further training as an
aviation radioman gunner on a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. This training
happened at USNATTC in Millington, Tennessee. He joined Torpedo Squadron 80 at
San Diego, California and then it was on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Thomas sailed and flew off of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga with
the 3rd and 5th fleets. He participated in action
beginning with pre-invasion strikes on the Philippine Islands. Later in the spring
of 1945, the Ticonderoga was hit by two Japanese kamikaze aircraft off the
island of Iwo Jima. Thomas’ squadron was transferred to the nearby carrier
U.S.S. Hancock for some of the first low level strikes on Tokyo and other
Japanese cities.
Once, returning from a strike on the island of Formosa (now
Taiwan)Thomas noticed on the Avenger’s radar screen a shape that looked like a
cruiser that was camouflaged and hidden on the coastline. Thomas’s aircraft and
others destroyed the Japanese cruiser later that day. Thomas received the
American Theater Ribbon, six battle stars; three for air to air combat, air to
sea, and air to ground combat. He also received the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign
Ribbon, the Philippine Liberation Ribbon, the Air Medal and the WWII Victory
medal.
Thomas was discharged on June 18, 1946 with the rank of
Aviation Radioman 2nd Class.
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