After a young man from South Charleston threw himself on top of a grenade to save his comrades, the community that raised him built something new to honor him and his sacrifice.
On Nov. 7, 1943, Herbert Joseph Thomas Jr., a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, was leading his squad through the jungles of Bougainville, on the Solomon Islands, when a grenade he had lobbed at a machine gun nest - his squad had already eliminated two others - bounced back into their foxhole. With no time to throw the grenade back and unwilling to risk his fellow Marines' lives, Thomas dove on top of the grenade and died from his injuries. He was 25 years old.
The commendation H.J. Thomas Sr. received after his son's death said that Thomas' men, "inspired by his selfless action...unhesitatingly charged the machine gun and, with fierce determination, killed the crew and several other nearby defenders."
Back home, the city of South Charleston, equally inspired by Thomas' sacrifice, found their own way of honoring him, and the H.J. Thomas Memorial Hospital opened its doors on Dec. 9, 1946.
Now, more than 70 years after Thomas gave his life in battle and nearly 70 years after the creation of the hospital named for him, Thomas Memorial Hospital is honoring its namesake once again. The hospital will unveil its H.J. Thomas Hall of Honor inside Thomas hospital on Tuesday, as well as celebrate the hospital's history on the eve of its 69th year.
"We're dedicating the hospital hallway to his honor, and the legacy he left to the community, with this hospital and beyond," said Brian Ulery, chief operating officer for Thomas Health System. "It has grown from his heroism all the way to where we are today."
The celebration, which will start at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, will include a keynote speech from Hershel "Woody" Williams, the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the Battle of Iwo Jima, as well as Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, West Virginia's adjutant general, who will read Thomas' own Medal of Honor citation. The Marine Corps League and four ROTC groups will be in attendance, and the Appalachian Children's Choir, the South Charleston High School band and a quartet from the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra will perform during the event.
Thomas was the first West Virginian awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II - an award that remained in a breezeway in an old part of the hospital until the new Hall of Honor was installed. The exhibit includes photos of Thomas as a boy in South Charleston, as a football player at Virginia Tech, and as a Marine in the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, nicknamed the "Lava Dogs." One image even depicts the Navy destroyer named for him - the USS Herbert J. Thomas.
Michael Lynon is particularly excited to see Thomas honored. As a member of the Herbert J. Thomas Memorial Detachment #947 of the Marine Corps League, Lynon has spent years meeting with his detachment at the hospital in South Charleston. But Lynon has an extra level of connection to Sergeant H.J. Thomas Jr. - Thomas is Lynon's Marine Corps "adoptee," and Lynon is the custodian of his burial site, at Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery in South Charleston.
"I have been tasked with perpetuating Herb's legacy," Lynon said. "I take care of him, as well as all of the family members that are buried beside him. His only living relative has given me complete custody of everything - his medals, which even though they live here in the hospital, I can still keep close."
Lynon has another adoptee, a U.S. Army soldier from Kentucky, and said the practice has made him a "historian" of the lives of two men he has never met. Because Thomas' body wasn't returned to the U.S. right away - he was buried at Bougainville and exhumed in 1948 - Lynon feels particularly compelled to pay his respects however he can.
"I've learned to know [Thomas]. He smoked a pipe, so from time to time, on holidays as a tribute to him, I'll put a pipe on his gravestone," Lynon said. "There's another tradition - Marines don't believe in leaving a man behind. In his instance, he was temporarily left behind. To make up for that, every time I visit him I leave a coin. If you saw his grave site right now, it's littered with coins."
For Ulery, the new hallway display is a chance to bridge the gap between Thomas Memorial's legacy and its future as a community hospital, in the space that literally connects the old hospital to the newer addition.
"We're not the biggest institution around, but we want to make sure we have a connection with the people who live in South Charleston and now, in downtown Charleston, with Saint Francis Hospital," Ulery said. "We want to be the community hospital for this place, where you go for your primary care, where you go for things that don't require big, tertiary services."
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.