At this writing, Dale Thomas is retired, and living in Owensboro. His current passion seems to be woodworking. In his retirement years, he has become quite a woodworking craftsman, turning out beautiful furniture from his large woodworking shop. Dale was quite proud of his army career, but like most soldiers was reluctant to share a lot of that history. The following information may be from an old resume and I will leave it as written by Dale. Thanks Dale, for your service to our country.
I was in the Army for seven years, one month and one day. I entered in late October, 1962 and left in late November, 1969. I gave the Army about a month beyond my obligated tour of duty. I took ROTC in college and thus started out as an Army artillery second lieutenant. I was a (recently promoted -- early July 1969) major when I left. I never left CONUS.
Military Experience - W. Dale Thomas
[They thought I was William D. Thomas]
I was in the Reserve Officers' Training Corp while in college. I attended ROTC Summer Camp at the Infantry Training Center, Fort Benning, Georgia in 1961. I graduated in May, 1962 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Artillery. I entered active duty in October 1962 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where I attended the Artillery Basic Course.
My first assignment was as a Range Officer at Fort Polk, Louisiana, where I ran a 25-meter rifle range. We trained recruits to fire the new M-2 rifle in both semi- and full-automatic modes (and that was a scary sight, seeing 50 raw recruits simultaneously firing full automatic from an assault position [a "John Wayne position"] on a 25 meter range). After about a year, I was re-assigned to the Fort Polk NCO Academy as Troop Commander. I was also the commander of the Fort Polk Honor Guard [Unbelievable, I know, but here's proof].
"Trooping the Line" with Lt General Charlie Brown, Army Chief of Chaplains 1964.
After approximately 2 years at Fort Polk, I attended the 9-month Army's Guided Missile Systems Officer Course at Fort Bliss, Texas. That got me an additional 4 1/2 years obligation and a great assignment at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. At White Sands, I was a system engineering analyst and engineering manager in a joint military/civil service organization responsible for monitoring and evaluating the development of the Nike X Ballistic Missile Defense System. [This system changed names frequently. When I left, it was called the Safeguard system]. While at White Sands, I advanced from First Lieutenant to Major. [I was on the very last Captain's Promotion List before promotion to Captain became automatic.]
I submitted an unqualified resignation of my commission and left the Army at the end of November 1969, never having left the continental United States.
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