Posted on 03/23/2020
Thomas E. Williamson, Jr. died on March 17th, 2020 at age 101. Born September 5, 1918 in Montgomery, Alabama, entered the Naval Academy in 1938, graduating with the Class of 1942. After graduation, he served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Theaters during World War II aboard USS Philadelphia with service stars for the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and Southern France. He was awarded the Bronze Star for action at Salerno. He was also awarded Korean, Vietnam and China Service ribbons. He held a Master's Degree in International Relations, served on the Staff U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island and on the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff, Omaha, Nebraska. Upon his retirement from the Navy in 1964, he joined Pan American World Airways at Cape Canaveral for several years; this was followed by 27 years with the Grumman Corporation (later Northrop Grumman). Retired again in 1994, to his bayside tree farm in Southern Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He was a member of St. James Episcopal Church, Lothian, MD. His other activities and memberships included the Naval War College Foundation, the Maryland Tree Farm Association, the American Forest Foundation, the International Walnut Council, and the Army-Navy Country Club of Washington. Surviving are his wife Evelyn Crandall Williamson whom he married in 1942, and one son, Thomas E. Williamson, III of Cincinnati, Ohio. Arrangements were by Hardesty Funeral Home, P.A. of Galesville, MD. Memorial contributions may be made to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation Development 274 Wood Road, Annapolis, MD 21402-5001 or to St. James Episcopal Church, 5757 Soloman's Island Road, Lothian, Maryland 20711.
Published in The Capital Gazette on Mar. 22, 2020