Charles T. Thomas Papers, WWI 144

[Folder Numbers], Charles T. Thomas Papers, WWI 144, WWI Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The collection is composed of two photographs, one photocopy of two photographs, and one copied discharge and enlistment record, documenting the World War I service of Charles T. Thomas of Lillington, N.C., who served in the U.S. Army. He served from February 1918 to February 1919 in the Spruce Production Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Aviation Section. The most important item in the collection is an original group photograph of members of the Spruce Production Division in Aberdeen, Washington, during WWI. There is a poor-quality copy print of a photograph of an oval portrait of Thomas. There is also a photocopy of Thomas' WWI discharge and enlistment record form.

There is no arrangement for this collection.

Charles Tillman (or Tilman) Thomas was born on August 28, 1891, in Harnett County, N.C., to William Alexander and Norah Hugh Yarbough Thomas. By 1900, the Thomas family was living in Harnett County on a farm worked by William Thomas. At the time of his federal draft registration for World War I, Charles Thomas was working as a farmer while living in Lillington, N.C. He was inducted into federal military service for World War I on February 26, 1918, in Lillington.

Charles Thomas was ordered to entrain with other North Carolina men for the Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington, to serve in the Spruce Production Division [believed to be the 42nd Spruce Squadron] of the U.S. Army Signal Corps Aviation Section. The unit was logging lumber for wooden airplane propellers and parts during the war. He would eventually be stationed in the Army camp at Aberdeen, Washington. Thomas served until being discharged on February 10, 1919, from the U.S. Army, at Camp Wadsworth, S.C.

After the war, Charles Thomas returned to Lillington and continued farming. In 1920, he married Essie Clyde Brown, and the couple remained living on the family farm through the 1940s. Charles T. Thomas died on March 10, 1988, and was buried in Westview Memorial Gardens in Lillington, N.C.

The group photograph in this collection was received by the Military Collection of the State Archives of North Carolina from Shirley Thomas Bain, daughter of Charles T. Thomas, in September 2014, with the donation completed in December 2014. The copied photographs and discharge were given for reference purposes by Ms. Bain prior to 2014 to the Military Collection.