
Ensign Bob Thomas, holding Danny his oldest son, and his wife, Cozette, are all smiles in this Navy photo taken in 1953 when he returned to Hawaii after a six months deployment to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa with “Patrol Squadron 22″ that flew surveillance missions along the coast of China. Photo provided
After graduating from Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1951, Ensign Bob Thomas served as a navigator aboard a Navy P-2V, twin-engine “Neptune” bomber. He flew intelligence missions with the “Blue Goose Squadron,” VP-22, part of the “Formosa Straits Patrol Force” that surveilled the China coast.


