Editor’s note: Thomas Gwynn’s life has followed a long path which, after 92 years of twists and turns, has led to Price. He’s a WWII combat veteran, and with Veterans Day approaching, the Sun Advocate is pleased to publish this biography and photos submitted by Vernon J. Moulton.
During WWII, Thomas Gwynn, Army Air Communications Specialist, was on temporary leave to his home in Washington, D.C. Attending a nearby LDS church, he met a lovely young woman, Gwenevere Nielsen. Gwenevere’s family lived in Great Falls, Montana, but she was stationed in D.C. with the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services) at Naval Headquarters. She worked in the Navy’s personnel section.
Tom’s stay in Washington was to last only four days. The war was on and he didn’t have much time. After just two days of dating, he asked Gwen to marry him. To his disappointment, the answer came back…No. Gwen had been friends with another young man who had gone off to war and would never come home. She didn’t want that to happen again.
Proxy courtship
Tom, being a resourceful young man, arranged for his 6-year-old younger brother to “court” Gwen until the war was over. This proxy courtship was ultimately successful and they were married when Tom came home from the war. He had wisely placed the engagement ring he bought for Gwen in his father’s safe deposit box until the war’s end.
Thomas Gwynn was born in Lovell, Wyoming to Riley and Gwendolyn Gwynn. During his youth, his family lived on a farm between Lovell and Cowley, about five miles to the northwest. After high school, he attended the University of Wyoming in Laramie for two years. His studies were focused on electrical engineering. Those two years of college in electronics may have saved his life.
When WWII broke out, Tom was living in Washington, D.C., where his father was an attorney. (His father, Riley Gwynn, had served in WWI in the horse Calvary. The Gwynn family still has his uniform and leather leggings he wore during that war.) Tom soon volunteered for the Army and was sent to boot camp.
After boot camp he was assigned to the Army’s 54th Infantry and trained as a heavy machine gunner. Heavy Machine Guns, or HMG, were .50 caliber or greater and were typically mounted on tanks, jeeps, or other vehicles or on the ground. They were generally too heavy to be transported by hand.
Battle of Attu
Fortunately for Tom, the Army Air Corps at that time was looking for men with training in electronics for their Communications Units. Just as Tom’s Army HMG unit was mustering out to go to the island of Attu, in the Aleutian Islands, he was pulled out of line and told to report to a Communications Unit in the Air Corps.
The Battle of Attu Island, off the coast of Alaska, was the only battle in WWII fought on American soil. The Japanese had taken over the island, knowing if they controlled the Bering Sea, they could severely restrict American naval and air movements in the North Pacific. Tom’s former heavy machine gun unit was included in the Allied Force sent to retake the island. The HMG unit suffered heavy losses as the Japanese forces held fanatically onto their well-fortified positions on the island. In Tom’s words, the HMG unit was, “cut to ribbons.” Most of the Japanese soldiers, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting, committed suicide rather than surrender to the superior Allied Force.
Tom was immediately sent to Harvard and Yale Universities for training in communications. Completing that training, his vital war-time assignment was to fly to many diverse places around the world to build communications systems for the war effort. Some examples of the places he served are; Belem in the Amazon delta; Natal, Brazil; Africa; Dominican Republic; Haiti; the Ascension Islands of the coast of Africa; the “Fireball” route to China and many more.
His air travel during the war covered a distance in excess of 28 times around the globe. He did not see combat but lived to tell about a few hair-raising flying emergencies, most brought about by bad weather or engine failure. Bending the rules, the pilot of Tom’s plane sometimes allowed him to fly the plane while in the air. He was not allowed to take off or land. By the end of the war, Tom had been promoted to 1st Lieutenant. After discharge from active duty, Tom continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve and Wyoming National Guard for another six years.
Home – and married – at last
After the war, his thoughts focused more intently on Gwenevere. They had corresponded regularly during the war. By the time Tom’s war-time duties were finished, she had been discharged from the WAVES and again lived in Great Falls with her family. Tom bought a brand new 1946 Oldsmobile and drove it to Billings, Montana, where he had arranged to meet Gwenevere. They were married in the Cardston, Alberta, Canada LDS Temple on June 13, 1946.
Later, the Gwynns moved to Provo, Utah, where Tom completed a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree, both with a major in Geological Engineering, at BYU. His main life’s career was as a geologist working for gas and oil companies to find and drill for oil.
Tom and Gwenevere have seven children, three boys and four girls. Total offspring from their children (grandchildren, great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren) is now at 99 with number 100 due in March, 2016. Tom is 92, having been born in 1923. Gwenevere died on June 10, 2014 and was buried on her 90th birthday. Amazingly, they had been married 68 years.
Tom now lives in Price with his daughter, Darlene. His health is very good, considering his advanced age. He enjoys looking after his late wife’s cactus plants in front of his house and driving to the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Bluffdale, where Gwenevere is buried.
On Oct 9, Tom was presented with a “Quilt of Valor” from the Quilt of Valor Foundation, a national organization. Donna Valdez, Utah coordinator for QOV, made the presentation to Tom in his home in Price.