THOMAS F. WILLIAMSON, LCDR, USN

Thomas Williamson '32

Date of birth: August 29, 1911

Date of death: August 28, 1942

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1932 Lucky Bag:

THOMAS FORT WILLIAMSON

Montgomery, Alabama

"Pete"

One of Pete's greatest ambitions is to sleep twenty-four hours a day. Perhaps his younger days in sunny, carefree Alabama developed this love of Morpheus, the god of slumber. He has never been known to be himself at reveille or very soon thereafter. In fact it takes until after his morning cup of Java for him to get in phase.

With an unquenchable love of good music he has kept the room well supplied with new Vic records. Should you enter the room some time when only the study lamp is lighted and soft strains are coming from the Vic, it's a cinch that Pete is perched alongside it looking out of the window into the night and thinking about a little girl, a little car, a little home, in a little town in Alabama.

Pete always has a smile for everyone. This trait has ever helped him to make new friends and hold all his old ones. His amiability and whole-hearted generosity, which extends to giving one the shirt off his back, have made him beloved by all his classmates.

Ring Committee; 2 P.O.

THOMAS FORT WILLIAMSON

Montgomery, Alabama

"Pete"

One of Pete's greatest ambitions is to sleep twenty-four hours a day. Perhaps his younger days in sunny, carefree Alabama developed this love of Morpheus, the god of slumber. He has never been known to be himself at reveille or very soon thereafter. In fact it takes until after his morning cup of Java for him to get in phase.

With an unquenchable love of good music he has kept the room well supplied with new Vic records. Should you enter the room some time when only the study lamp is lighted and soft strains are coming from the Vic, it's a cinch that Pete is perched alongside it looking out of the window into the night and thinking about a little girl, a little car, a little home, in a little town in Alabama.

Pete always has a smile for everyone. This trait has ever helped him to make new friends and hold all his old ones. His amiability and whole-hearted generosity, which extends to giving one the shirt off his back, have made him beloved by all his classmates.

Ring Committee; 2 P.O.

Loss

From Find A Grave:

Son of James Otis and Julia Sadler Williamson. Graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Class of 1932. Commanding Officer of submarine S-31 (SS-136). Died from serious wounds resulting from explosion of a flare on board the submarine on 10 August 1942 while on wartime patrol about sixty miles from Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Thomas died on August 28, 1942, the day before his 31st birthday.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Thomas graduated from Starke University School. When he was 21, he was given a special commission by President Herbert Hoover. While at the Naval Academy, he met Miss James Brashears and married her at Bishop Seabury Memorial Church in Groton, Connecticut, on March 12, 1938. They had a son, Thomas Fort Williamson, Jr., who was born in 1940.
Thomas, who often went by his middle name Fort, was best man at his brother James’ wedding in October 1941. James was a lieutenant in the Army on foreign service. Their father James was a pharmacist; mother Julia. Grandfathers were Arthur Fort Williamson of Montgomery and Col. Thomas Sadler of Prattville.
From The Montgomery Advertiser, June 20, 1943:

One of the most treasured possessions in the family of J. Otis Williamson, 206 College Street, pharmacist at the city clinic, is a watch presented to his grandson, Thomas Fort Williamson, Jr., by the officers and men of a Navy fighting ship which his father commanded until his death on Aug. 28, 1942.
The watch bearing the inscription “To Thomas Fort Williamson, Jr., in memory of Lieut. Comdr. Thomas Fort Williamson, by his officers and men,” was brought here by an officer who served with the late Comdr. Williamson.
Young Williamson, who is nearly three years old, is visiting his grandparents in Norfolk, Va., with his mother, the former Miss Jane Brashears.

Initially, he was buried in the Dutch Harbor Cemetery. In 1948 his remains were relocated to Oakwood Annex Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama.

His son, Thomas Fort Williamson, Jr. later served in the Navy and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Photographs

"At graduation, Thomas was one of three Starke School cadets who received a commission in the Officer’s Reserve Corps by Governor Bibb Graves. Thomas received a Captain commission." From The Montgomery Advertiser on June 7, 1928.
"(Starke School advertisement): Thomas statewide competition to win Senator Black’s appointment to Annapolis. He also was named one of three alternates by Congressman Lister Hill.". From The Montgomery Advertiser on July 4, 1928.
"(Starke School advertisement): Medalist and graduate of Starke’s School. One of the youngest men in his class at the United States Naval Academy. Won his appointment in competitive examination and entered the academy straight from Starke’s School. His papers in English there have won special notice, his May report showing him fourteenth man in an English class of about four hundred men." From The Montgomery Advertiser on July 4, 1930.

Career

From the now-broken link http://www.fleetorganization.com/subcommandersclassyear3.html:

Under Instruction Postgraduate School United States Naval Academy 1939

Duty USS Hatfield (DD-231) 1 Oct 1939

Duty cfo S-31 1 Jul 1940

Navigator USS S-31 (SS-136) 1 Nov 1940

Executive Officer USS S-31 (SS-136) 5 Jul 1941 - Nov 1941

Captain USS S-31 (SS-136) 30 Nov 1941 - 10 Aug 1942

Lieutenant (j.g.) 2 Jun 1935

Lieutenant 1 Oct 1939

Lieutenant Commander (T) 15 Jun 1942

Full Biography

From Stories Behind The Stars via [1]:

Thomas Fort Williamson (SN O-071360) was born 29 August 1911, in Prattville, Alabama. His parents were James Otis Williamson (1881-1948) and Julia Sadler (1892-1983). His father was a pharmacist. Pete grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and graduated from Starke University School. He had a brother, James Otis Williamson, who served in the Army.
Pete graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1932 and was commissioned an Ensign. The 1932 Lucky Bag notes that “Pete always has a smile for everyone.” His early assignments included the USS Colorado (BB-45). In 1936 he attended the Submarine School, Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut. He was initially assigned to USS Cachalot (SS-170), which was in an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard. He married James Hamilton Brashears on 12 March 1938 in Groton, Connecticut. He was later assigned to USS Hatfield (DD-231) and the US Naval Academy. The 1940 Federal Census shows Pete and his wife living in Boston, Massachusetts.
In July 1940, LT Williamson was assigned to the USS S-31 (SS-136) and became the Navigator in November 1940. He later became the Executive Officer (July 1941) and then the Commanding Officer (November 1941). The USS S-31 was commissioned on 11 May 1922, and had been decommissioned in 1937. She was recommissioned in September 1940 and operated on the east coast until an overhaul in November 1941 in Philadelphia. After the overhaul, S-31 conducted two defensive war patrols in the approaches to the Panama Canal. In March 1942, S-31 headed to San Diego, California. In June 1942, S-31 was enroute to Alaska. On 7 July 1942, she departed Dutch Harbor for her third war patrol in the Aleutians.
On 10 August 1942, in the area around the island of Bososlof, which is located about 60 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor Naval Base, the crew were handling an older model signal flare, which had been removed from service in July 1942, but were still being used on the S-31 because the order had not reached S-31. During the handling of these flares one, or more, ignited and struck LCDR Williamson in the chest on the right side causing a severe puncture wound. Also injured in the incident was LTJG James Edward Tearney. After the accident a Navy float plane (PBY) was sent to carry LCDR Williamson and LTJG Tearney to Dutch Harbor to be treated. LCDR Williamson remained in Dutch Harbor for 18 days before dying of what is described as a sudden massive hemorrhage around the injury on 28 August 1942. He was initially buried in the cemetery at Dutch Harbor. His remains were later relocated to Oakwood Annex Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama. [LT Tearney would later die in a plane crash while being evacuated to Seattle on 25 August 1942.]
LCDR Williamson received the Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal.
He was survived by his wife James Hamilton Brashears Williamson of Montgomery, Alabama, and his son Thomas Fort Williamson, III who was born in 1940.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.