Randy Thomas served as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 5th Special Forces Group in the I-Corps sector of South Vietnam from May, 1968 to May of 1969. For the first seven months he was assigned to a Special Forces A-team which supported company sized Vietnamese units as they conducted patrols. He spent the remainder of his tour working on a Special Forces B-team as the unit S-5, Psychological Officer. Upon the completion of his tour he returned to Illinois, earned a teaching certificate, and worked at Hillsboro High School while also serving in the Illinois Army National Guard as an infantry officer. In 2003 he became Illinois's Adjutant General.
Interview Links
Feature Excerpt
OCS was a defining moment
Abstract
Interview Session 01 (Audio)
Early life, basic training, Officer Candidate School and SF training
Interview Session 02 (Audio)
Experiences in S. Vietnam with the 5th Special Forces Group
Interview Session 03 (Audio)
Life in Vietnam and post-war career in education and IL National Guard
Photos
Caption
Private Randal Thomas’s Basic Training graduation photograph at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri in the summer of 1966.
Where:
Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri
When:
Summer of 1966
Ownership:
Unknown
Caption
Ellsworth Thomas pins 2nd lieutenant bars on his son, Randal Thomas at Ft. Benning Georgia in May, 1967 following Randy’s completion of Infantry OCS.
Where:
Ft. Benning Georgia
When:
May, 1967
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Randy Thomas proudly stands by his Shelby G.T. 350 Ford in 1967 while he was enrolled in the Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Randy sold the car after his return from Vietnam.
Where:
Ft. Benning, Georgia
When:
1967
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
A view of the A-102 command bunker and team house on compound high ground in Tien Phuc, South Vietnam, in 1968.
Where:
Tien Phuc, South Vietnam
When:
1968
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Lieutenant Thomas joined in on a spirited game of marbles with a group of local children during the summer of 1968 while he visited a school in the town of Tien Phuoc.
Where:
Tien Phuoc
When:
Summer of 1968
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
The entire A-102 team (minus two soldiers) gets their portrait taken in front of the command bunker at Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam in August, 1968, with each member displaying different weapons.
Where:
Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam
When:
August, 1968
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Randy Thomas listed the team members of A-102 on the back of the photo in the previous image.
Where:
Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam
When:
August, 1968
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Lieutenant Thomas takes a break on top of a machinegun Bunker at A-102 in Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam in the fall of 1968.
Where:
Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam
When:
Fall of 1968
Ownership:
Narrator's photo
Caption
Nine members of Randy Thomas’s A-team pose in front of a hardened machinegun bunker at Tien Phuoc in August, 1968.
Where:
Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam
When:
August, 1968
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Lieutenant Thomas supervises Vietnamese troops at a weapons range in Tien Phuoc in late 1968.
Where:
Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam
When:
Late 1968
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Lieutenant Thomas poses in front of a building in Da Nang in December of 1968. He had just been transferred to a Special Forces B-team.
Where:
Da Nang
When:
December of 1968
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
A fellow B-team soldier joins a group of Vietnamese as Lieutenant Thomas’s B-team moved out from Tien Phuoc in early 1969.
Where:
Tien Phuoc
When:
Early 1969
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Lieutenant Thomas’s Special Forces B-team with a Mike force company of Montagnard troops prepare for a patrol while at Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam in early 1969.
Where:
Tien Phuoc, South Vietnam
When:
Early 1969
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
B-Team member Lieutenant Thomas, who served as the unit’s S-5, plans a mission with his staff in Da Nang in the spring of 1969.
Where:
Da Nang
When:
Spring of 1969
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Lieutenant Thomas, wearing Tiger BDUs, a Vietnamese uniform, waits in Tien Phuoc for an airlift back to Da Nang in early 1969.
Where:
Tien Phuoc
When:
Early 1969
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Lieutenant Thomas fights boredom while he manned a radio watch during his assignment to a Special Forces B-team in Da Nang in the spring of 1969.
Where:
Da Nang
When:
Spring of 1969
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Major General Randal Thomas, the Adjutant General, with his son, 1st LT Zachary Thomas, a member of the 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment, at Al Taqaddum, at a Marine base near Fallujah, while the General visited his troops in February, 2006.
Where:
Al Taqaddum, near Fallujah
When:
February, 2006
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
Adjutant General Randy Thomas gave welcoming comments to a Civil War encampment in front of the old state capitol in Springfield, Illinois circa 2007. Larry Werline played U.S. Grant, and Fritz Kline portrayed Lincoln.
Where:
Springfield, Illinois
When:
Circa 2007
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo
Caption
General Thomas, on behalf of the National Guard Association of Illinois, presented a minuteman statue to U.S. Senator Barack Obama in 2007 at NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Where:
Washington, D.C.
When:
2007
Ownership:
Narrator’s photo