Joe Thompson

Joseph Thompson Jr. (1919–2012) was a decorated World War II pilot from Tennessee, who later in life became active in Nashville civic affairs. Nicknamed "Tiger Joe", Major Thompson flew 90 combat missions in 1944 for the Allied forces in Europe, most behind German lines, performing aerial reconnaissance. He received the Croix de Guerre from France and the Distinguished Flying Cross from the US for his role in liberating France from Nazi Germany. Thompson was awarded France's highest honor, the Legion of Honor on March 15, 2012, shortly before his death on March 24, 2012.

Thompson published a book in 2006 entitled, Tiger Joe: A Photographic Diary of a World War II Aerial Reconnaissance Pilot.

Early years

Thompson is a descendant of one of Nashville's founding families. His great-great-grandfather, Thomas Thompson (1759–1837), was one of middle Tennessee's earliest settlers, arriving from North Carolina in the winter of 1779 to a site that would become the city of Nashville. He was one of 256 colonists in 1780 who signed the Cumberland Compact. For serving in the American Revolutionary War in 1774, he received a Revolutionary War land grant of 640 acres in Tennessee located near the junction of Nashville's Franklin Road and Thompson Lane, which marks the original northern edge of the property. "Thompson Lane" was named for the family, and it remains in modern times as one of the city's large thoroughfares. and Joe Thompson Jr. was born there on June 8, 1919. The recruiter promised him a military occupational specialty that would combine both photography and flying, namely aerial reconnaissance. At age 22, he left home driving with three other enlistees in a Model A Ford to Hicks Field near Ft. Worth, Texas. Thompson was skilled in obtaining specialized aerial photographs of enemy positions using a new and highly secret technique which made it possible for Allied artillery to hit a target accurately with the first round. It was developed in early 1941 by a British engineer, John Merton, and was known as "Merton Grid Obliques". The technique involved two photographs of the same terrain, taken from slightly different vantage points, and superimposed on a grid that could provide specific coordinates of a target. Thompson accomplished it by first flying in zig-zag maneuvers, then diving steep from 12,000 feet. Coming out of the dive at 350 mph, he turned his cameras on and flew a prescribed heading over the enemy front, as German flak bursts followed his track. Two days before the Allied invasion date known as D–Day (June 6, 1944), Thompson flew a mission that included photographing a list of sites over France, one of which was called "Grandcamp". Thompson photographed German troop movements during the Battle of the Bulge. from the US for his role in liberating France from Nazi Germany. Thompson was awarded France's highest honor, the Legion of Honor on March 15, 2012, shortly before he died. They were together for over 60 years and had four children. After the war, Thompson built a life insurance career spanning several decades and was recognized with a number of national honors in that industry. His charity fundraising was extensive and he served on many boards.

As the great-great-great-great-grandnephew of Revolutionary War officer Colonel Jeremiah Olney, the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati elected him as a hereditary member in 1993. For 16 years, Thomson delivered a popular annual lecture to the students of Montgomery Bell Academy about his war remembrances. About 1995, Lucas G. Boyd conducted a series of interviews with Thompson in a photo-by-photo format in preparation for an exhibit as part of this lectureship, which was later presented at the Tennessee State Museum. In 2004 and 2005, Alice Swanson, a library volunteer, conducted a total of over five hours of additional interviews in which Thompson provided a story-by-story recollection of his military experiences. These include the friendships and connections he made with comrades and with European citizens that he maintained the rest of his life.

In addition to his reconnaissance photos, Thompson made hundreds of personal photos of ordinary people and the places he saw during the war. He used a Zeiss Ikonta camera and developed the film in his tent at night. He mailed the developed film home and his mother resupplied him with new film regularly. He published these photos in a book in 2006 entitled, Tiger Joe: A Photographic Diary of a World War II Aerial Reconnaissance Pilot.

In 2008, Thompson loaned his flight mission logbook to the Special Collections Division of the Nashville Public Library, making it available to the public for research, under special conditions. This logbook documented every flight he made, beginning during his training in 1941 and continuing through the war until his return to the United States in 1945. In his 90s his health began to fail; he developed dementia leading to his death on March 24, 2012.