William Thoman was attending Columbia University when war clouds began appearing. He joined the United States Coast Guard in 1939. After graduating from the USCG Academy in 1942, he was assigned to the Escanaba. Within months, he was part of a rescue mission in February, 1943 when the SS Dorchester, a transport ship carrying 804 troops, was sunk by a German submarine. The Escanaba and other ships plucked 133 from the water; 681 perished (including the now famous “Four Chaplains” – a priest, a rabbi, and two protestant ministers, who refused to leave the ship, giving their life vests to others).

In June that year a few weeks short of his 22nd birthday, William Thoman and the Escanaba were part of a convoy accompanying a large transport ship from Greenland.  The waters were infested with German submarines.  Lieutenant Thoman was on the bridge as the Escanaba, zigging and zagging in evasive maneuvers, was struck broadside, splitting the ship in half and sinking it almost instantaneously.  Of the 105 crew, just two survived (and only because they were kept afloat unconscious after their arms had become frozen clinging to debris).