Tom was born into the Army in Honolulu, Hawaii to Col.
John J. and Annie(McAnally) McCormick on 1 July 1924. His father
was an Army doctor and his mother a former Army nurse. Tom was
the eldest of three children having a sister Caroline and brother
John. He graduated from East Denver High School in Denver, Colorado
in 1942. He then attended Millards Prep School in Washington,
D.C. before joining the Class of 1946 at West Point on 1 July
1943.
Classmate and B-2 Company mate Bob Isbell remembered Tom
as a cadet: I remember Toms irrepressible and brash
sense of humor. Many times as a plebe in formation being questioned
by an upperclassman, Tom would answer by blurting out some bizarre,
startling or simply BJ comment that would always
bring down the house. No matter how immediate or violent the
always anticipated upperclass reaction, there was always a faint
smile on Toms lips. Because of his fair skin and his rosy,
freckled cheeks, Tom always looked underage.
Tom was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry at graduation.
He attended the Infantry Basic Course at Fort Benning,
Georgia as well as the Airborne School. He was awarded the Parachute
and Glider qualification badges. His first assignment was to
the 6th Infantry Division in Korea with subsequent assignment
as an advisor to a Korean Infantry Regiment. Returning to the
States in 1949, he went to the 187th Airborne Regiment at Fort
Campbell, Kentucky. Tom returned to Korea with the 187th when
that unit entered the Korean War. He earned the Bronze Star Medal
and the Combat Infantry Badge. Returning to the States in 1951,
Tom attended the Armor Advanced Course at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
While there he took time out to marry Bonnie Flener at Knoxville,
Tennessee. From Fort Knox, the McCormicks went to ROTC duty at
the University of Rhode Island. A daughter, Marianne (Kelly)
was born in 1954. Kelly followed in Toms footsteps, joining
the Army as a private in 1974 and retiring in 1993 as a Captain.
The family next went to Berlin where Tom served in the G-4 Section
of the Berlin Command. A second daughter, Casey was born in 1957
during this assignment. Casey is presently a State Police Corporal
with the Pennsylvania State Police.
Tom was next assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina
and successfully completed the Special Warfare School. He was
then assigned to the 77th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg.
That assignment called for a great deal of temporary duty in
Southeast Asia on missions training the Laotian Army. He also
attended the Cold Weather and Mountain School at Big Delta, Alaska
and the Intelligence School at Fort Holabird, Maryland while
assigned to the 77th SF Group.
Tom left the Army in 1961 and joined Burroughs (now
UNISYS) Defense, Space and Special Systems Division as a Senior
Program Control Analyst in Paoli, Pennsylvania. While at Burroughs,
he contributed to the success of a number of major defense projects
of the 1960s including the Airborne Long Range Intercept (ALRI)
Program, the SAGE Back-up-Intercept-Control (BUIC) Project and
the 425-L (Hole-in-the-mountain) Air Defense Program. A third
daughter, Bonnie (Sam) was born in 1964. In 1971, Tom joined
the John Middleton Tobacco Company as Sales Manager for the states
of Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. In 1972 and 1973,
Tom worked with the Department of Housing and Urban Development
as a Program Analyst for the Pennsylvania Flood Disaster. He
received a commendation from the Secretary of HUD for his work
helping victims of Hurricane Agnes.
From 1974 to 1977, Tom worked for United Engineers and
Construction Company at the Salem, New Jersey Nuclear Power Plant
overseeing piping and mechanical quality control. He and Bonnie
were divorced in late 1974 after a long separation. In 1977,
Tom joined the Bectel Company working first as a Field Quality
Control Engineer on a project in Arun, Indonesia. In 1978, Bectel
sent Tom to Jubail, Saudi Arabia to work in management coordinating
data on cost and scheduling. Tom left Bectel in 1980 and died
in Charleston, South Carolina on 9 September 1981. He was survived
by his daughters, Casey, Bonnie and Kelly and his brother, John.
Toms life was not a smooth one, but it was an
honorable one. He made and kept a commitment to Duty-Honor-Country.
He always chose right over wrong. He never established a home
base but he always conducted himself with a quiet dignity
throughout his travels all over the world. He always loved the
Army and was particularly proud that he was a Green Beret.
His total belief in the principles learned at West Point were
paramount in his life as evidenced that among his most prized
possessions when he died were his Bugle Notes from 1943 and memorabilia
from West Point. His daughter Casey had this to say about her
father:
His legacy continues, his daughters are proud to
believe,
through their lives and their work - one an Army career
officer
and one a State Trooper - serving their country and community
as the example of his life guides them. I can only strive
to live as
honorable life as he. I wish he knew what good he did -
and thank each of his classmates for
your influence in his life and thereby mine. Weunderstand
little of the impact each of us have.
The Class of 1946 joins Toms family and friends
in saying, Rest in Peace, Tom.
46 Memorial Article Project and his daughter,
Casey
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