David Thomas
| Date and Place of Birth: | circa 1924 Chicago, IL |
| Date and Place of Death: | February 22, 1945 Iwo Jima |
| Baseball Experience: | Amateur |
| Position: | Unknown |
| Rank: | Private First Class |
| Military Unit: | 2nd Marine Division US Marine Corps |
| Area Served: | Pacific Theater of Operations |
David R. Thomas was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1924. He went to
Hyde Park High School and was attending a professional baseball school
in Orlando, Florida, when he entered military service with the Marine
Corps.
Thomas served with the 2nd Marine Division in the Pacific. By February
1945, he was a private first class and on his way to Iwo Jima to help
secure the island for use as a base for long-range fighters to escort
bombers on their missions to Japan.
Iwo Jima, 750 miles south of Tokyo, is the middle island of the three
tiny specks of the Volcano Islands. Five miles long with Mount Suribachi
at the southern tip, the island is honeycombed with excoriated volcanic
vents. Hundreds of natural caves communicate with deep sulphur-exuding
tunnels. Steep and broken gulleys cut across the surface, ragged sea
cliffs surround it. Only to the south is there level sand, but it is
fine, shifting, black pumice dust making the beaches like quicksand and
rendering it impossible to dig a fox-hole when in need of cover.
The island was riddled with pillboxes, gun-pits, trenches and mortar
sites and a three-day naval bombardment beginning on February 16 was
intended to rid the island of much of its defense. But despite its
enormity the bombardment had minimal effect.
Private First Class Thomas was killed in action on February 22, 1945. He
was 21 years old.
Thanks to David Straub for his help with information relating to this biography.
Date Added: February 8, 2013
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