GARFIELD THOMAS DE 193

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Cannon Class Destroyer Escort Keel Laid September 23 1943 as WILLIAM G. THOMAS Renamed November 3 1943 Launched December 12 1943 USS GARFIELD THOMAS DE-193 Commissioned January 24 1944 - Decommissioned March 27 1947 Struck from Naval Register March 26 1951 HNS PANTHIR D-67 (Greek Naval Service) Transferred to Greece January 15 1951 and renamed Stricken by Greece 1992 Laid up at Souda Bay, Crete

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS Garfield Thomas DE-193 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2z

1946-06-26

Note:

 

Other Information

USS GARFIELD THOMAS earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal and the WWII Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - William Garfield Thomas, Jr. USNR (September 13 1916 - October 12 1942)
Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve at Philadelphia June 14 1940. He was appointed Midshipman August 10, commissioned Ensign November 14 1940, and promoted to Lieutenant (j.g.) June 1942. He was serving in Light Cruiser USS BOISE CL-47 during the Battle of Cape Esperance October 11-12 1942. When his "turret was hit by enemy fire and danger of ... explosions grew increasingly imminent, Lt. (j.g.) Thomas with utter disregard of his own personal safety remained behind to ensure abandonment of the perilous area . . . Despite the fact that eight of his men succeeded in getting out and that he too might easily have escaped . . . Thomas when last seen was telephoning the handling room to order the crew out." He was awarded the Navy Cross for giving up his life in the defense of his country.

 

---

 

If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

---

Copyright 2024 Naval Cover Museum