Sponsored by:

Navy Federal Credit Union
Charles
Ward
Thomas
September 3, 1903

–

March 3, 1973

Born:

Pasadena

, 

California

Home:

Bellingham

, 

Washington

Charles “Tommy” Thomas served for two years in the Washington State National Guard before entering the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and graduating with the Class of 1925. Best known for his Antarctic exploration, he appeared in the United States Navy documentary film The Secret Land, produced in 1948. The film won an Academy Award in its category in 1948. He retired as a U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral in 1957.

Awards Received

  • Legion of Merit

    Service:

    United States Coast Guard

    Rank:

    Captain

    Action Date:

    Fall 1944
    Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 337 (April 1945)

    The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” to Captain Charles Ward Thomas, United States Coast Guard, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Commander of a Greenland Patrol task unit and Commanding Officer of a Coast Guard ice breaker during the fall of 1944. Captain Thomas, operating north of the Arctic Circle, inflicted severe damage on enemy installations and outposts in Northeast Greenland . He landed a force, which destroyed a Nazi weather station and later captured an enemy armed trawler. [Captain Thomas is authorized to wear the Combat “V”.]