Daniel B. Thomas
Pharmacists Mate 3rd Class
HQ Company
2nd Battalion 23rd Regiment
Bronze Star
1926 - 2007
In Danny passed away New Years Day 2007. In March 2007 his good friend Harlan Glenn returned Danny's ashes to Iwo Jima.
Harlan Glenn, left, with Danny B. Thomas, Iwo Jima, 60th Anniversary, 2005. The flag that Danny is holding was carried up to the top of Mount Suribachi by Harlan, using the same route that the original forty-two man patrol took on February 23rd 1945. Once atop the mountain, Harlan was able to persuade a few Marines to run this same flag up the flagpole with full honors, and then lowering it to be folded as you see here.
March 12, 2007
Harlan Glenn spreads the ashes of Danny B. Thomas, on the same stretch of beach on which he landed in 1945, Yellow Beach 2, Iwo Jima. To the left of Danny's helmet cover, observe that his last name i smarked on the side of the cover.
Obituary from Irving Texas
Daniel Bert Thomas,
born May 3, 1925, in Blossom, went to be with the Lord on Monday, Jan. 1, 2007.
A memorial service was held at 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 6, at Restland Wildwood Chapel.
Visitation was held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Restland Funeral Home.
He graduated from Paris High School and Paris Junior College in Paris, and University of Texas in Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Science in 1952. He also attended Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He worked as a pharmacist at Stephens Park Pharmacy for almost 40 years, then Irving Community Hospital (Baylor) and Methodist Central Hospital. He served as president of the Texas Pharmaceutical Association. In 1943, he joined the U.S. Navy, and fought as a Navy fleet corpsman attached to the 4th Marine Division in the Battle of Iwo Jima and received a Bronze Star with Valor device.
He is preceded in death by both parents, Chat and Catherine Thomas; brother, Jay Thomas; sisters, Elizabeth Buchanan and Rosalyn Shaw, Catherine Gale Thomas and Julia Lee Thomas. He is survived by a niece, Catherine Shaw Holloway; nephews, Gary Lynn Thomas and Dr. Robert Thomas Buchanan; numerous nieces, nephews and beloved friends of the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy.
If desired, in lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Marine Corps League, Big ?D? Detachment, P.O. Box 190705, Dallas, TX 75219.
Published January 7, 2007
Copyright © 2007 Harlan Glenn