Thomas A. O'Hara Jr, USAF

Thomas A. O'Hara, Jr.

COL Thomas A. O'Hara, Jr. (USAF Ret.) was born December 28, 1933, in Coatesville, PA, the older son of Thomas and Clara O'Hara. Growing up in a steel town, he often looked towards the surrounding mountains, telling his schoolteachers he knew his life would take him far beyond his small-town roots. Upon graduating from the University of Notre Dame in June 1955, in addition to receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, he was awarded his commission, having completed the ROTC program there. He earned his wings at Webb Air Force Base in Big Spring, TX, in October 1956. His next assignment was Advanced Interceptor Pilot Training at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, GA. Following completion of training in April 1957, he was ordered to his first duty assignment with the 46th Interceptor Fighter Squadron in Dover Air Force Base, DE. It was there he was set up on a blind date and met his future wife, Haywood Stroud Brumfield, from Inverness, MS. Courting each other mostly by phone and letters, they would marry less than a year later on Valentine's Day 1958. Together they would rear five children: Deborah, Pamela, Kimberlea, Thomas, and John.

From March through November 1967, he would serve in Vietnam. While there, he was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The first, for an assault on the Dap Cau Railroad Junction coming out of Southeast China, a joint operation with the US Navy. The second in October 1967, attacking Fukyen Airfield in northwest Vietnam – part of the same joint effort in which Navy pilot John McCain was shot down and captured while attacking a power plant in Hanoi. In all, O'Hara flew 100 missions over Northern Vietnam and 13 missions over South Vietnam.

In addition to his combat assignments, he is most proud of his tour at Oxnard Air Force Base, CA, from January 1965 through September 1966, where he introduced supersonic aviation to the Mayor of Oxnard and several Air Force Academy cadets.

After his final assignment as Strategic Air Command Senior Controller in the SAC Underground Command Post, he retired in April 1979 – a total service of 23 years, 6 months and 14 days – but not before completing his Master of Business Administration through the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. Following his Air Force career, he would later be appointed by President Reagan, and later by President H. W. Bush as the US Marshal for the State of Nebraska from February 1982 through February 1994– the longest serving tenure in Nebraska. He would also later be elected and serve as Sarpy County Commissioner from 1996 through 2000. Following Haywood's passing in 2002, he retired and continues to live in Bellevue, Nebraska. As of fall 2024, at the age of 90 years old, he now proudly bears the moniker of "Poppa O" to twelve grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.