WWII Fighter Pilot Thacker Dies

Retired Air Force Col. John M. Thacker died of kidney disease March 6 at his home in Virginia, reports the Los Angeles Times (Thacker obituary is third in a series of obits.) He was 90. Thacker was one of the few pilots who got into the air during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, receiving a Silver Star for his actions that day. He commanded a fighter group during the Korean War and last served as inspector general of Headquarters Command at Bolling AFB, D.C., before his retirement from the Air Force.