John Curtis ‘Curt’ Thomson
WILMINGTON John Curtis ‘Curt’ Thomson, 103, peacefully passed at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare Center after a long and faithful life as a U.S. Marine, husband and father.
The eldest son of J.C. and Matibel Thomson of Decatur, Georgia, Curt received a degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1939.
He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942, attended OCS at Quantico and received special training at MIT’s Radar School before being assigned as a first lieutenant with the newly-formed 542nd Night Fighter Squadron at Cherry Point. The 542nd served in the World War II Pacific Theater at Guam, Ulithi, Peleliu and Okinawa and in occupation duty in Yokusaka, Japan. Curt returned in December 1945 to marry his sweetheart, Emma Harris Whitaker, in Enfield on Dec. 28.