Henry Garfield Thorne, Jr. (1913- ) was born in Waco, Texas and enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in 1932. In 1937, he graduated from aviation cadet training and received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps. Thorne was stationed in the Philippine Islands as a pilot with the 3rd Pursuit Squadron when World War II began, and was evacuated to Australia after the fall of Bataan. After returning to the U.S. in 1942, he attended the Army Command and General Staff School in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and served in various command roles on the West Coast with the Los Angeles Air Defense Wing, the Fourth Fighter Command, and the Fourth Air Force. He continued commands in the West with several Fighter Groups at Ephrata Air Base, Washington in 1944. Soon after, he was sent to Iwo Jima Island in the Pacific Theater as Commander of the 414th Fighter Group, and also served as Assistant Chief of Staff of the Seventh Fighter Command on Iwo Jima and Guam. After the war, Thorne was assigned as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, 5th Air Force at Nagoya, Japan. He later was promoted to Commander of the 8th Fighter Group and the Ashiya Army Air Base in Japan. Upon returning to the U.S., he graduated from the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama in 1948. He served in various administrative and command roles at Headquarters, U.S. Air Force. In 1953, Thorne graduated from the Air War College, Washington, D.C., and later commanded the 1707th Air Transport Wing at Palm Beach International Airport, Florida. Deployed again overseas, he was assigned in the late 1950s to assume command of the Iceland Defense Force at Keflavik International Airport, Iceland. In the early 1960s, he held several command posts in Germany, including a stint as Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Headquarters, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, and at Ramstein Air Base as Commander of the 17th Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Thorne's final commands while on active duty were with the 12th Air Force, Tactical Air Command at Waco, Texas, and the Continental Air Command at Robins AFB, Georgia. General Thorne retired from active duty on August 1, 1969. His career decorations included the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Soldier's Medal and the Air Medal.
From the description of Thorne, Henry G. (Henry Garfield), 1913- (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10612907
