10/22/2026
William (Bill) Lewis Thomas was born at Allenwood August 31, 1921, the son of Lewis D. and Mary Ellen Reaser Thomas. The family later moved to Dewart, and he graduated Watsontown High School in 1939. He worked at Sheffers Ice Cream plant for twelve cents an hour. He was drafted into the army December 5, 1942.
He was at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi, for basic training. He was then sent to Camp Maxey, Texas, for advance training with the 99th Infantry Division on 81mm mortar. He was with the 99th throughout the war.
In 1943 after he graduated , his younger brother Dick Thomas joined the Marine Corps. In September 1943 their brother John Thomas joined the army.
February 5, 1944, while home on leave, Bill married Betty Snook at the parsonage of the West Milton Evangelical Church. Betty was the twin sister of his brother John’s wife. He returned to Camp Maxey on the 14th, where he was promoted to staff sergeant. He remained until his unit moved to Boston for departure on a troop ship. From Boston they landed in England and moved on to Scotland. He was on the Siegfried Line in the Ardennes and was a forward lookout for his mortar unit. Winter had set in and the foxholes were freezing. The sides would be covered with ice from their breath, and his had a “foot of water in it.” He received another promotion to 2nd lieutenant, and was given command of a machine gun platoon of around thirty men.
April 20th, 1945, Netty Sook Thomas received word that her husband John had been killed on the Island of Luzon. It was Easter Sunday. Bill did not learn of his brother’s death until May 10. Two days earlier he had learned the war had ended. “No one will know the extent of my sorrow” he wrote in a letter to home. Bill was overseas from September 1944 until March 1946. When he arrived home in July 1946, he was a captain. He had earned a Bronze Star for heroism while in Germany.
Bill passed away April 26, 2019, and was interred at Twin Hills Memorial Park with his wife Betty, who died June 21, 2006.
