Grayson County TXGenWeb

Major Thomas Thoman

The Evening News
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Monday, February 25, 1918
pg 12

Has Finger Cut Off So
He Can Get Into Army

DALLAS, Tex., Feb. 25. - Some men "lose a finger" to keep out of military service; but not so with Thomas Thoman, Denison, Tex., who had one taken off so he could get in. Thoman tried to enlist as a stenographer, but examination disclosed the little finger on his right hand was crooked and stiff.
"That finger will have to come off if we take you," he was told.
Without a word, Thoman left; half an hour later he returned.
"Well, sergeant, I had her cut off," he said.
He was accepted.

Major Thomas Thoman (1896-1976), the son of a Katy engineer, was 21 when he enlisted in the Army in 1918. After the war he went on to become an engineer of a different sort with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. He grew up at 511 W. Murray and retired to 1220 W. Walker. He's buried in Fairview Cemetery. "Major" was his first name, not his Army rank.