Joseph James Thompson

West Point, 1949

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Terry Powers on March 16, 2023:

USMA Class of 1949 - West Point 17121 JOSEPH JAMES THOMPSON 12 Aug 1921 - 3 Mar 2000 Died in Bellevue, WA Cremated ashes scattered. Joseph James Thompson was born at Ft. Knox, KY, and raised on various Army posts by his parents, COL & Mrs. P W Thompson, as they pursued their careers. With this background, Joe decided that he, too, wanted a career in the Army. Upon completion of Millard's Preparatory School in Washington, DC, he won a presidential appointment to West Point in May 1945. Joe in his four years at West Point was involved in a variety of extracurricular activities and the Glee Club and the Chapel Choir gladly took advantage of his natural talent for musical expression. Although Army life was all he had known, he selected Air Force because he wanted to fly. In the early days of his Air Force career, Joe served as a navigator-bombardier-radar observer for four years with the Strategic Air Command, flying in B-29s and B-47s. He advanced to SAC bombardier evaluator and served in that capacity at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for three years. Desiring a career change, Joe applied to the Air Force Institute of Technology to become an Air Force development officer and earned a master's degree in electronic engineering in 1959, which led to site development assignments for the Atlas E&F missiles located in Nebraska. An interesting five-year assignment followed at the Air Force Academy as a mathematics instructor and, later, as academic scheduling officer for the dean. In 1967, after language and special air warfare training, Joe joined the staff at Headquarters, Military Assistance Command, Saigon, Viet Nam. The Tet Offensive required his reassignment to Tay Nin Province, IV Corp, as the assistant province advisor for PsyOps. Among his accomplishments were the prevention of the bombing of the capital city of Tay Nin and the Cao Die Cathedral by our forces and obtaining B-52 strikes that destroyed many regiments of the Viet Cong. After Viet Nam, Joe was assigned to Hanscom Field in the AWACS program as the director of test and deployment engineering division and the director of data acquisition and processing for over four years. In July 1973, LTC Thompson elected to retire and start a new career with an aerospace company. Joe's transition to civilian life was swift, successful, and family rewarding. The Boeing Company in Seattle, WA, offered Joe three engineering positions in system, radar, and technical. He selected system engineering and became a system-engineering manager. During his 20-year tenure at Boeing, Joe worked on a variety of important defense and space related projects, such as the AWACS, wasp mini-missile, space station proposal, and the B-2 and F-22 programs. He also earned a master's in business administration (with honors) from Seattle University in June 1978. The various Boeing projects, which Joe managed successfully, increased in scope and complexity, and the Air Force, NASA, the Boeing Space Center, and the Boeing Development Center recognized his work and numerous publications with awards and commendations. Joe was especially proud of his accomplishments as the system engineer responsible for the Standard NATO AWACS electronics system. Active in his community, Joe was involved in a variety of professional, social, fraternal, and charitable organizations. His interests kept him active with the Boeing Management Association and their computer and ski clubs. He participated in and worked with the local, county, state, and national Republican organizations, served as president of the New Utsalady Water System Water Board and secretary/ treasurer of the Camano Community Water Association. Joe was a church member and choir tenor at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Bellevue. He enjoyed boating, drawing, painting, and photography and relished his time with his family and grandchildren. After a lifetime of moving, Joe and his spouse were happy to settle down in 1973 and establish a permanent home for their of four daughters. Seattle became their home record and a geographical focus for his family. In 1996 Joe said, "It is a great deal of satisfaction that we have done this and that all his daughters had settled in Washington State (Seattle area)." Joe asked to be remembered for three things: first, his productive and satisfying career in the Air Force; second, his strong family and loving wife of more than 48 years of marriage and their four daughters, spouses, and three grandsons; and third, a satisfying and productive second career as a system engineer with the Boeing Company. He concluded his biography by writing that "the West Point principles of 'Duty, Honor, Country' are those that I have lived by. They have given my life meaning and satisfaction." Joe requested that his ashes be scattered at his favorite place, the family vacation home, Utsalady Bay at Camano Island, Washington. His family, classmates, and friends salute this member of the Long Gray Line. Well done, Joe. Be thou at peace. His wife and classmate DSW

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