Fred Thomas -- U.S. Navy

 

Fred Thomas

Fred Thomas was born on May 19, 1927 in the Donaldson Creek community of Trigg County, Kentucky.  He was the seventh of nine children born to John Cullen “Taylor” Thomas and Myrtle Green Chewning Thomas.  His siblings were Lonnie Douglas, born in 1913; Herschel Jefferson, born in 1915; Eunice, born in 1918; Ruth, born in 1920; Thelma Christine, born in  1922, Guy, born in 1924; Lottie Mae, born in 1930; and Olen Ray, born in 1933.

Fred grew up in rural Trigg County, but as soon as he reached the age of 17 in 1944, he traveled to Louisville, Kentucky where he joined the U. S. Navy.  He was sent to the Naval Training Center at Great Lakes, Illinois where he received his basic naval training.  After his basic training, he was sent to Norfolk, Virginia where he boarded the USS Card.  The ship was sent into the north Atlantic where it served as a destroyer escort on German submarine patrols.

Although it was the end of World War II, Fred continued his naval career by serving on the USS Boxer.  He was also aboard the USS Brisco, which was a target ship in the 1946 Bikini Atoll atom bomb tests in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.  In the following years, Fred served on the USS Orion, USS President Jackson, the USS Searcher and the USS Belle Grove.  He served off the shore of Korea during the Korean War as air support as well as off the coast of Vietnam.  Following the end of those wars, he spent part of his career at the Commissary Store in Charleston, South Carolina and at the USN Air Station in Pensacola, Florida.

One of Fred’s most impressive assignments was to serve aboard the USS Saratoga. He helped put the ship into commission in April 1956 and served on her for four years and four months. When he was transferred, there were only nine original crew members left on the ship. Years later in 1996, Fred was invited to attend the decommissioning ceremony of the ship in Mayport, Florida. He and his former crewmen marched off the ship together as a part of the ceremony, which was a sad and emotional day for all the men.

Fred retired from the Navy on March 29, 1965 at a rank of Ship’s Serviceman First Class after serving 21 years and three wars with the USS Navy. Fred settled in Milton, Florida where he worked as the sales manager of the local Ford dealership.  He worked for many years in that field and with other dealerships.  He was known to be a charismatic and charming man in his business and personal life.

Fred was married to Lillie Mae Edwards and they were the parents of a daughter, Sharon, who was born in 1967.  Lillie Mae died of cancer in 1990.  Fred married again in 1993 to Eva Somerset Malone and he became a devoted father to his stepchildren.

Fred died on April 10, 2016 in Pensacola, Florida at the age of 88.  He was buried in the Memory Park Cemetery in Milton, Florida next to his wife, Lille Mae.

 

 

Tombstones of Fred Thomas

 

LINEAGE:  (Fred Thomas was the son of John Cullen “Taylor” and Myrtle Green Chewning Thomas, grandson of Carroll and Frances Wills Vinson Thomas, and great-grandson of James, Jr. and Margaret Ethridge Thomas.  James, Jr. was the sixth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas. )