Joseph Henry Thomas was born on September 15, 1919, in Negaunee, Marquette County, Michigan. He was the son of Edward Thomas and Daisy Mae Cowling Thomas. He was a 1937 graduate of Negaunee High School. He was an active member of his community, playing in the Negaunee City Band for several years and teaching a boys' Sunday school class at Mitchell Methodist Church. Before entering military service, he worked as a time checker in the Maas Mine office for the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company.

Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Army at Marquette, Michigan, on September 11, 1942, and was inducted into service on September 25, 1942. Assigned to the 206th Engineer Combat Battalion, he initially served as a supply clerk. In the summer of 1944, his battalion joined General George S. Patton's Third Army during the rapid Allied advance across France, supporting the 7th Armored Division by clearing roads, removing obstacles, and constructing bridges to maintain the momentum of the offensive.

On August 23, 1944, while supporting the Allied assault crossing of the Seine River near Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry, France, Private Thomas was killed in action. He is now buried in the Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, Épinal, Département des Vosges, Lorraine, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, weremember.abmc.gov