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'''Oliver Clark Thomas''' (March 24, 1914&mdash;December 16, 2008)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi?lastname=Thomas&firstname=Oliver&start=121|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=Rootsweb.ancestry.com|access date=May 11, 2009}}</ref> was a decorated [[prisoner of war]] held by the [[Japan]]ese during [[World War II]] who later as a Lubbock, [[Texas]], businessman headed the trade group, the Texas Good Roads/Transportation Association.

'''Oliver Clark Thomas''' (March 24, 1914&mdash;December 16, 2008)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi?lastname=Thomas&firstname=Oliver&start=121|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=Rootsweb.ancestry.com|access date=May 11, 2009}}</ref> was a decorated [[prisoner of war]] held by the [[Japan]]ese during [[World War II]] who later as a Lubbock, [[Texas]], businessman headed the trade group, the Texas Good Roads/Transportation Association.

Thomas was born in Hereford in Deaf Smith County in the Texas Panhandle but moved thereafter with his parents near [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]], first to Greenville in Hunt County and then to Kaufman, where he was awarded [[Eagle Scout]] designation in 1930 and graduated two years later from Kaufman High School. He attended [[Southern Methodist University]] in Dallas and later [[Texas Tech University]] in Lubbock, from which he graduated.<ref name=Thomas>{{cite web|url= http://lubbockonline.com/stories/121908/obi_369256589.shtml|title=Obituary of Oliver C. Thomas|publisher=''[[Lubbock Avalanche-Journal]]''|access date=May 11, 2009}}</ref>

Thomas was born in Hereford in Deaf Smith County in the Texas Panhandle but moved thereafter with his parents near [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]], first to Greenville in Hunt County and then to Kaufman, where he was awarded [[Eagle Scout]] designation in 1930 and graduated two years later from Kaufman High School. He attended [[Southern Methodist University]] in Dallas and later [[Texas Tech University]] in Lubbock, from which he graduated.<ref name=Thomas>{{cite web|url= http://lubbockonline.com/stories/121908/obi_369256589.shtml|title=Obituary of Oliver C. Thomas|publisher=''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal''|access date=May 11, 2009}}</ref>

Thomas enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps, forerunner to the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]], a week after the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]], [[Hawaii]]. He was an instructor at the Aircraft Mechanics School at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. He subsequently volunteered for the [[B-29]] flight engineering school and participated in seventeen bombing missions over Japan. On his last flight, his plane was shot down over [[Yokohama, Japan|Yokohama]]. He bailed out and was held prisoner at Kempi Tai police headquarters in [[Tokyo, Japan|Tokyo]]. After the two [[atomic bomb]]s were unleashed on [[Hiroshima, Japan|Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki, Japan|Nagasaki]], he was taken to Omori prison camp on a small island in Tokyo Bay.<ref name=Thomas/>

Thomas enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps, forerunner to the [[United States Air Force|Air Force]], a week after the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]], [[Hawaii]]. He was an instructor at the Aircraft Mechanics School at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. He subsequently volunteered for the [[B-29]] flight engineering school and participated in seventeen bombing missions over Japan. On his last flight, his plane was shot down over [[Yokohama, Japan|Yokohama]]. He bailed out and was held prisoner at Kempi Tai police headquarters in [[Tokyo, Japan|Tokyo]]. After the two [[atomic bomb]]s were unleashed on [[Hiroshima, Japan|Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki, Japan|Nagasaki]], he was taken to Omori prison camp on a small island in Tokyo Bay.<ref name=Thomas/>