Past CCSNA President, Past CCSNA Vice-President, Past Region 10 Commissioner, Past CCSNA Board Member, Past CCEF Board Director, Sergeant Major, USMC, Ret.
Charles M. "Tommy" Thomson, a Campbell by ancestry, was proud of his Scottish roots and was very active in many Scottish-American societies in southern California. He was Region 10 Commissioner of the Clan Campbell Society (North America) for many years before serving as a CCSNA Board Member, Vice-President, and President from 2005 to 2008.
Tommy enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on February 8, 1943, just four days after his 18th birthday (02/04/1925). Little did he realize that he would soon find himself a part of one of the most short-lived, but most colorful units in the history of the Marine Corps. After boot camp Tommy joined the Fleet Marine Force and found himself a part of the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, under Colonel Merritt A. "Red Mike" Edson. The battalion, which was also known as Edson 's Raiders, was the first of what would become four Marine Raider Battalions, and ultimately two Raider Regiments.
The concept was based on the British Commandos, and it was planned that these Raider Battalions would conduct fast small scale raids against Japanese installations on various islands in the Pacific. As the Marine Corps geared up for combat operations in the Pacific, it became clear that large scale landings would be the norm. Eventually, the 1st Raider Battalion became the 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, and fought in major campaigns on Guam and Okinawa.
After release from active duty in 1946, Tommy returned home to southern California and took up a career as a civil engineer, while raising a family, and remaining in the organized Marine Corps Reserve.
When the Korean War broke out in 1950, Tommy was called back to active duty and crossed the Pacific again, this time to fight in a small country of which most Americans had never heard.
After Korea, Tommy again returned home to his family, his job, and the reserves. In the 1960s, Americans again crossed the Pacific, this time, to Vietnam. By now a 1st Sergeant, Tommy again answered the call. After not one, but two tours of duty in Vietnam, Tommy came home and eventually retired from the Marine Corps as a Sergeant Major, the highest possible enlisted rank.
Tommy' wife, Jacquelyn, recalls that she met Tommy in 1943 when he was a handsome marine walking down the street looking for a ride. She stopped, backed up, and told him, "Get in." They were married three years later and were the parents of six children.
Tommy and his wife Jackie were members of the St. Andrew Society of Southern California, and the United Scottish Society. He was a member of the Scottish American Military Society. Tommy was a well-respected and recognized figure at Scottish Highland Games for many years, but few people realized that he was a genuine American hero, having answered his country's call in three wars. He carried himself like a brigadier general, pipe always at the lip, but he was more than that: a United States marine Sergeant Major who answered his country's call four days after his 18th birthday. Tommy passed away on 03/31/2015 at the age of 90.
Tommy will be one of those fallen veterans, from among the Clans, to be honored in the Remembrance Ceremony, as part of the Gathering of the Clans and Salute to Veterans, at Scottish Fest USA, over Memorial Day weekend, May 23rd & 24th, at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California.
At 1 :00 PM, 17 April 2015, at a grave side service at Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, CA, family, friends, fellow Scots, fellow Marines, and fellow military members from all branches gathered to bid farewell to a hero and render honors and pay respects to an amazing man who has quietly walked among us for almost a century.
Semper Fidelis, Sergeant Major!
