John Thomas
John Keith Thomas
John (Jake) Thomas was born to the Reverend Frank P. and Esther K. Thomas in Piqua, Ohio on December 5, 1927. At age three, they moved to Greeneville, Ohio where Jake lived until enlisting in the Navy on 21 February 1946. While serving as a Quartermaster on U.S.S. Astoria, Jake applied & was accepted to the Naval Academy Preparatory School as a member of the Naval Academy Class if 1951. Following graduation, Jake married Kathryn Ann Frey, daughter of Austin R. Frey, Head of the Physics Dept. at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, and his wife, Elizabeth.
Jake went through flight training and received his wings in November 1952, followed by a tour with VS-31 in Quonset Point, RI. He attended the Post Graduate School in Monterey, followed by a tour in Hawaii with Fleet Intelligence Center, Pacific. A squadron tour in San Diego with VS-38 was followed with three tours in Program Management with the Naval Air Systems Command. Jake served the 2nd time around with VS-38 as its XO/CO. He then went to the staff of Commander Fleet Air Wings, San Diego. A sea tour as X.O. of USS TICONDEROGA followed before he returned to D.C. as Deputy Program Manager for the S-3A. Jake left 18 months later to take over as C.O. of U.S.S. INCHON (LPH-12). Jake’s tour at the helm of INCHON was highly successful. INCHON won the Big “E” and numerous Departmental Awards twice along with other honors. INCHON’S helicopters swept mines in Haiphong Harbor and in the Suez Canal and was the first LPH to circumnavigate the globe.
Following INCHON, Jake became the Program Manager for the LAMPS MK III Program and managed to breathe life into it before being relieved. His twilight tour was as Commanding Officer of the Naval Station in Long Beach.
Jake retired on 1 December, 1980 having served in the Navy for nearly 35 years.