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Corporal Shirley Jean Tinker Thomas

A young woman in a military uniform smiling for the camera.
  • Unit: Unit unknown
  • Date of Birth: January 6, 1931
  • Entered the Military: March 27, 1950
  • Date of Death: June 1, 2009
  • Hometown: West Allis, Wisconsin
  • Place of Death: Columbus, Georgia
  • Cemetery: Section 14, Site 528F. Fort Mitchell National Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Alabama
Contributed by Asher Harrelson
Mentored by Mr. Chance M. Giddens
Troup High School
2024/2025

Early Life

Shirley Jean Tinker was born in West Allis, Wisconsin to James Tinker and Dorothy Carlson. James Tinker worked as a service manager at an automobile company. She had one sister, Beverly.  Both girls graduated from West Allis High School (Shirley in 1949). 

Before enlisting in the military, Tinker worked as a cashier at the 20th Century Fox Theater in West Allis. Tinker enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1950.  

The Tinker family in the 1940 manuscript census in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. National Archives and Records Administration.
Shirley and Beverly Tinker, 1949. Courtesy of Dawn Thomas.
Tinker was a member of the science club at West Allis High School. She is in the front row, third from the right, wearing a plaid dress, 1949. Ancestry Classroom.

Homefront

West Allis, Wisconsin was a suburb of Milwaukee that has been surrounded by the bigger city. In the 1940s and 1950s, it would have been outside the city limits. 

Outside of Milwaukee, the Badger Army Ammunition Plant was reactivated during the Korean War to produce chemicals and rocket powder for use in the war.

Additionally, about two hours outside of Milwaukee was a U.S. military training facility, Camp McCoy. Many men and women from surrounding areas were trained there for the Korean War. Out of the 800 Wisconsinites who died during the Korean War, just under 200 were from the four-county region, with nearly 150 from Milwaukee County.

The Badger Army Ammunition Plant in Sauk County, Wisconsin. Sauk County Historical Society.
The entrance to Fort McCoy in Monroe County, Wisconsin. U.S. Army.
A map of West Allis, Wisconsin, in 1961. Milwaukee Maps Collection, Milwaukee Public Library (map0000027).

Military Experience

Shirley Jean Tinker’s Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) burned in the 1973 fire in St. Louis. The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 allowed women to serve as permanent members of the military. During the Korean War, women served in all branches, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. Over 120,000 women served in the military during the Korean War, both in the U.S. and overseas.

Women were trained for specific roles, including medical, administrative, and technical support. Clerk typists received training in typing, shorthand, and filing, preparing correspondence, orders, and reports, and military filing systems and handling sensitive documents.  

Tinker enlisted on March 27, 1950 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She completed basic training and trained to be a clerk/typist from July 1, 1950 to November 12, 1950. She was assigned to Otis Air Force Base in Falmouth, Massachusetts.  

In her job as a clerk/typist, Tinker would have prepared typed military reports, orders, and correspondence, created schedules, and distributed communications between departments.

While serving, she met Herman Maurice Thomas, an active duty member of the United States Navy. They married in New Hampshire on June 18, 1951. As per military rules at the time, she was eligible for and then got an Honorable Discharge as a result of getting married and leaving the U.S. Air Force on July 16, 1951. 

The marriage license of Shirley Jean Tinker and Herman Maurice Thomas, June 18, 1951. Ancestry Classroom.
Shirley Jean Tinker Thomas’s DD-214, July 16, 1951. Portions have been redacted for privacy. National Archives and Records Administration.

Veteran Experience

The couple eventually moved to Columbus, Georgia, and had four children: David (Dave), Rebecca Dawn (Dawn), James (Jimmy), and Robert (Buck). After her military service ended, Thomas dedicated her life to being a stay-at-home mom, volunteering with the local Boy Scouts Troop and, according to her son, Dave, having “… a huge impact on the community. She had many friends, and everyone in our community knew her.”  

Shirley and Maurice Thomas as young parents. Courtesy of Dawn Thomas.
Shirley Thomas a Veteran. Courtesy of Dawn Thomas.

Commemoration

Two of Thomas’s children served in the United States military and one of her grandsons served for 20 years before retiring.

Shirley Jean Tinker Thomas passed away on January 6, 2009, on her birthday. Her husband, Herman, died in 2017. Both are buried at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Alabama. Their son James, a Persian Gulf-era Veteran, is also buried at the same cemetery.

Shirley Thomas’s grave at Fort Mitchell National Cemetery in Fort Mitchell, Alabama, March 6, 2025.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Badger Army Ammunition Plant Historical Overview 1941-2006. U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command. Accessed March 22, 2025. https://www.jmc.army.mil/Docs/History/Badger%20Army%20Ammunition%20Plant%20-%20V3%20Internet.pdf.

Shirley Tinker. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012. https://ancestryclasroom.com. 

Shirley Jean Tinker and Herman Maurice Thomas. New Hampshire, U.S. Marriage Records, 1700-1971. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Shirley J. Thomas. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2024. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

“Shirley Jean Thomas.” The Atlanta Constitution [Atlanta, GA], January 8, 2009. Newspapers.com (422685800). 

Shirley Jean Thomas. DD-214, Department of the Air Force. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Shirley Jean Thomas. U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Shirley Jean Thomas. U.S., Veterans’ Gravesites, ca.1775-2019. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Thomas Family Photographs. Courtesy of Dawn Thomas and the Thomas Family. 

Thomas, Dave. Telephone interview with the author. December 3, 2024.

West Allis (Wisconsin) 1961. Map. 1961. Milwaukee Maps Collection, Milwaukee Public Library (map0000027). https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/MKEMaps/id/67/. 

Wisconsin. Milwaukee County. 1940 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Secondary Sources

“2022 – Impact Badger Ordinance Works/Badger Army Ammunition Plant on Sauk County, Wisconsin. Sauk County Historical Society. Accessed March 22, 2025. https://saukcountyhistory.org/schs-events/fak29lzrxl4nx459zlrxz66rg7y6yg. 

“AL3 Herman Maurice Thomas.” Find a Grave. Updated November 5, 2017. Accessed March 22, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/184965109/herman_maurice-thomas. 

“Fort McCoy Army Base Guide.” Military.com. Accessed March 22, 2025. https://www.military.com/base-guide/fort-mccoy. 

Bingham, Price T. “The U.S. Air Force and Army in Korea: How Army Decisions Limited Airpower Effectiveness.” Joint Force Quarterly (91), November 5, 2019. https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/1681704/the-us-air-force-and-army-in-korea-how-army-decisions-limited-airpower-effectiv/.

Connell, Tula. “1950s Milwaukee: Race, Class, and a City Divided.” Labor Studies Journal 42, no. 1 (2017). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0160449X16676416.

“An Important Moment for Military Women.” National Museum of the United States Air Force. Accessed December 30, 2024.  https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/2381882/women-in-the-air-force-displays-in-korean-war-gallery/.

“Korean War 60th Anniversary Committee Statement.” Korean War Educator. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://thekwe.org/topics/women_in_korea/women_in_korea.htm.

“Korean War: Women’s Contributions in a Forgotten Conflict.” American Legion. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://www.legion.org/information-center/news/honor/2024/march/trailblazing-women-in-the-us-military-an-all-voluntary-service-historic-timeline.

Lockwood, Martha. “Women’s legacy parallels Air Force history.” U.S. Air Force News. Updated September 18, 2014. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://www.af.mil/News/Article/497548/womens-legacy-parallels-air-force-history/.

“Milwaukee History: History Comes to Life.”  Milwaukee County Historical Society. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://milwaukeehistory.net/education/milwaukee-timeline/.

“Recalling History at Camp McCoy.” U.S. Army. Accessed November 6, 2024. https://www.army.mil/article/271837/recalling_history_at_camp_mccoy_during_the_korean_war_1950_53.

“The Role of Women in the Korean War.” Korean War Legacy Foundation. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://koreanwarlegacy.org/chapters/the-role-of-women-in-the-korean-war/.

“SGT James Alton Thomas.” Find a Grave. Updated February 25, 2000. Accessed March 22, 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1248944/james_alton-thomas. 

“Shirley Jean Tinker Thomas.” Find a Grave. Updated July 4, 2011. Accessed November 29, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72729535/shirley-jean-thomas. 

“Shirley Jean Thomas.” Veterans Legacy Memorial, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Accessed March 22, 2025. https://www.vlm.cem.va.gov/SHIRLEYJEANTHOMAS/C61A65D. 

“Women’s Armed Services Integration Act.” Naval History and Naval Command. Accessed December 30, 2024. https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/diversity/women-in-the-navy/WASIA.html.

“Wartime Milwaukee.” Encyclopedia of Milwaukee. Accessed November 8, 2024. https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/wartime-milwaukee/.

This profile was funded by a grant from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.