Thomas Norwood joined the U.S. Army in March 1942 and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division where he parachuted into Normandy just 4 miles inland of Utah Beach on 6 June 1944. He rode a Waco CG-4A troop transport glider for a ride into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden and was also at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. He was discharged from the Army after the war but rejoined in 1959 and retired in 1975.