THOMPSON, III, Frank Entered into eternal rest on the evening of July 6, 2007, Lt. Col. Francis Eugene Frank Thompson, III, USAF (Ret), husband of Frances Merlene Coley Thompson. Residence, Charleston, South Carolina. The relatives and friends of Lt. Col. Frank and Frances Thompson are invited to attend the funeral services of the former in J. HENRY STUHR, INC., WEST ASHLEY CHAPEL Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at eleven o’clock. Interment in Beaufort National Cemetery at two o’clock. Friends may call at Stuhr’s West Ashley Chapel one hour prior to the service. Lt. Col. Thompson was born March 17, 1929 in Salisbury, North Carolina, a son of the late Francis E. Gene Thompson, Jr. and the late Helen Bryce Feamster Thompson. He graduated from Boyden High School in 1945, received his Bachelor’s degree in engineering and USAF 2nd Lieutenant Commission from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, in 1950, an MS degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1958 and an MA degree in History from the University of Charleston and The Citadel in 1994 at age 65. He retired from the Air Force in 1976, he lived in Charleston but for 12 years after his retirement, taught night school on military bases world-wide for the University of Southern California. He has been an Adjunct Professor for the Charleston Air Force Base Resident Center of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and for Limestone College in Gaffney, SC. His 26 year military career was essentially two-tiered. Half of the time was spent in the Military Airlift Command (now Air Mobility Command) flying transport aircraft such as the C-47 in air evacuation missions and C-54’s and C-141’s on world wide missions. He accumulated over 7,000 flying hours in a multitude of aircraft types. The other half of his career was spent in the Air Force Systems Command, tracking missiles from Cape Canaveral, FL, developing space launch boosters in Los Angeles, CA (including the Mercury and Gemini Programs) and developing manned aircraft systems at Wright Patterson AFB (i.e. C-5A’s and C-17’s). He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (for flying in Korea), the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters and many other awards and decorations. Lt. Col. Thompson was a life-time member of the Air Force Association and the Military Order of Officers Association. He was Past Commander of the South Carolina Commandery of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, a past member of the West Point Society of Charleston, of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Military Order of Stars and Bars, the Sons of the Revolution and the Civil War Roundtable. Surviving are his wife of Charleston; a daughter, Terri Eggers Fairbanks and husband, David, of Tallahassee, FL; a son, Stuart Nelson Thompson of Lexington, SC; two grandsons, Eric and Evan Eggers; two granddaughters, Erin and Robin Thompson; and two sisters, Mrs. Robert Roueche of Gaffney, SC and Mrs. Helen Lambert of Cowpens, SC. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Organ Fund of Grace United Methodist Church, 1601 Sam Rittenberg Blvd, Charleston, SC 29407. And when our work is done, Our course on earth is run, May it be said , Well Done, Be Thou at Peace . (USMA Alma Mater) A memorial message may be written to the family by visiting our website, www.jhenrystuhr.com. Visit our guestbook at www.charleston.net/deaths.
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