Tom Farrell entered his 8th decade on August 11, 2010. Much has happened in those 81 years and this web site will attempt to provide highlights in Tom's life. This will also be a good file for book notes for the book my children want me to write.
This picture of me was taken on a Carnival Cruise in the Spring of 2002. The ship had just docked at Galveston, Texas and the passengers were waiting to process through customs.
Tom joined the Air Force in September 1948 after graduation from High School in Whitehaven, Tennessee. He took basic training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. His first assignment was Yokota Air Base in Honshu, Japan. He was OJT as an Aerial Gunner and Armorer on a B-26 Bomber. However, he was sent to Postal School and assigned to the Base Post Office. This was because the Air Force had just been formed and the Army units that furnished support were being replaced by Air Force personnel.
This assignment probably saved his life since the unit he was a member of (8th Bomb Sq.) lost all their aircraft in the first months of the Korean War. Had Tom still been a member of the unit he would probably have been on one of the planes lost.
Tom and his wife Ruth were Honored Guests of the Director of Central Intelligence, General Michael V. Hayden, on 19 September 2007 for CIA's 60th Anniversary celebration. The Celebration featured the dedication of an A-12 Oxcart Aircraft that was to be set up on the Agency grounds.
The invitation was the result of a job Tom carried out in 1967 when he was sent to the Eastman Kodak film processing plant in Rochester, NY to scan the film from the first operational photographic mission by CIA's A-12 Oxcart Supersonic Reconnaissance Aircraft. President Lyndon Johnson requested the immediate viewing of the mission flown over North Vietnam to determine if the Soviets were moving Surface-to-Surface weapons like those sent to Cuba in 1962 into North Vietnam.
Benton County Search and Rescue (BCSAR) was a significant part of my life in the late 1980s and through all of the 1990s. At 70 years of age my body finally said, "no more!" This part of my life will be expanded upon later.
I was given a six month rotational assignment in the early 1970s from NPIC to NSA to help merge our separate units intelligence exploitation capabilities. Exchange across the two intelligence programs opened minds in both organizations. It was a very interesting assignment!
Tom joined the Air Force in September 1948 after graduation from High School in Whitehaven, Tennessee. He took basic training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas. His first assignment was Yokota Air Base in Honshu, Japan. He was OJT as an Aerial Gunner and Armorer on a B-26 Bomber. However, he was sent to Postal School and assigned to the Base Post Office. This was because the Air Force had just been formed and the Army units that furnished support were being replaced by Air Force personnel.
Benton County Search and Rescue (BCSAR) was a significant part of my life in the late 1980s and through all of the 1990s. At 70 years of age my body finally said, "no more!" This part of my life will be expanded upon later.
