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The death of Major <em>William R. Thomas</em> in the Southwest Pacific area on 13 February 1945 causes those of us who knew him to contemplate and consider his magnificent qualities. The unpredictable nature of fate is brought again into sharp focus by his untimely passing.</div>
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William R. Thomas was born near Benton, Illinois, on 5 July 1907 to Mr. and Mrs. William H. Thomas. He was appointed to the Military Academy from the Twenty-fifth District, Illinois, and entered upon that new phase of life in July 1928. With determined perseverance he overcame academic difficulties and soon became known throughout the Corps for his dry wit and spontaneous humor expressed by quiet voice and mannerism. He participated in football and was a sergeant during his First Class year. He was graduated with his class in 1932 and commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry. While serving with distinction with the 11th Infantry at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, he met and married Elizabeth Smith, United States Army nurse, in 1934. Major Thomas transferred to the Field Artillery in 1935 and contributed greatly to the development of the then experimental Mechanized Field Artillery at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Graduating from the Regular Course, Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1937, he then served in the 15th Field Artillery, 2d Division. In 1940 his wife and daughter Mollie accompanied him to Fort Stotsenberg, Philippine Islands, but as war clouds gathered more stormily in the Pacific, he sent his family home to safety in June 1941 and remained at his post to meet the threat of war.</div>
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Tommy became a prisoner of war when further resistance by the pitifully small band of defenders of Bataan and Corregidor became impossible in the face of insurmountable edds. We know little of his experiences from then on and his death was reported by the Japanese Government as being due to avitaminosis. The Presidential Unit Citation was bestowed upon him posthumously and his ashes now rest in a communal urn in the United States Mausoleum near Yokohama, Japan. In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by his mother, Mrs. E. L. Ragsdale, Vienna, Illinois; a sister, Mrs. Gale G. Jones, Arthur, Illinois, and a brother, Adam Thomas, Christopher, Illinois.</div>
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Tommy’s name, along with those of other gallant men, is indelibly engraved in the hearts of his countrymen as one who nobly sacrificed his liberty and life in the service and defense of his homeland. His stoutheartedness, singleness of purpose in life and devotion to his country merit the praise of his classmates and countrymen.. His life was duly exemplary of the code by which he lived—“Duty, Honor, Country”; his death gives emphasis to that code. His name now rests with honor in the files of the Long Gray Line.</div>
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<em>“No more for him life’s stormy conflicts,</em></div>
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<em>Nor victory, nor defeat—no more time’s dark events,</em></div>
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<em>Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky.” —Walt Whitman</em></div>
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<em>—James E. Godwin Colonel, JAGD</em></div>
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