Veteran Salute: Kansas father and daughter spend decades in service to the nation

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Proud father John Thomason and his daughter, Tracey, both served their country for decades, with Tracey narrowly beating her father in time served.

Manhattan native John Thomason enlisted in the Air Force in 1966. During his time in the service, he got to set foot on every continent except Australia. Thomason said he passed the desire to serve his country on to his daughter.

“But I did recruit my oldest child, Tracey, and I couldn't recruit my sons, but I recruited my daughter and with all my total service of active and reserve and and guard, I ended up with 28 years total," Thomason said. "Wow. But my daughter beat me. She had 29."

Like father, like daughter, she was following in his footsteps. Both were able to make lasting memories they can look back on with pride.

“I was very, very proud of her," Thomason said. "And we went to Japan one time for a three-week temporary duty assignment, and we kind of stuck together. And I had some of the younger guys say, 'how can you be hanging out with this good-looking young redhead?' And I said, 'Well, I've known her for a long time.' And 'really, how is that?' And I said, 'well, she's my daughter.'”

Thomason said he started his military career during the Vietnam War. He said people were being drafted, but he didn't end up going.

“I always felt a little bit bad about that and so 14 years after I was discharged from the Air Force in 1970, I was raising a family and running a business," Thomason said. "And I thought, you know what? In two years I could have retired if I'd stayed in the Air Force. So I did some checking at the Wichita Air Guard and Topeka Air Guard, and they accepted me at Topeka. So, I went in there in 1984 after a 14-year hiatus, and [it was] one of the best things I ever did, I stayed with them for 22 years. And when I was on active duty as crew chief on air forces, and when I was in the Guard at Forbes here in Topeka, I was a crew chief on KC-135 aerial refueling.”

Thomason said that he didn't have anything bad to say about his active duty with the Kansas Air National Guard, but said he had to retire in 2007 when he hit the age of 60.

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