Robert Henry Thorn Jr.

Robert H. Thorn Jr. (Sip) was born November 17, 1923 in Jackson Mississippi. His mother was Lola Pearl Ward his father was Robert Henry Thorn Sr. He lived in the south for the first 10 years of his life, their only son and they were doting parents. His father had served in the artillery during World War I and returned, mustard gassed disabled. He received a pension for the rest of his life for his injuries. Robert Sr. was a well-known carpenter building many homes in the East County of San Diego. The family moved to La Mesa California in 1933. When Sip arrived in California, his telltale southern accent caused friends and acquaintances to call him Mississippi- which gradually shortened to Sippi or Sip, a nickname he carried throughout his life. He met his eventual wife June at La Mesa Dale grammar school, they carried on a courtship throughout those early years, graduated from Grossmont High School in 1942 and married in 1943. Sip's father passed in 1951 and is buried at Fort Rosecrans, San Diego. Sip and June's marriage lasted one month shy of 78 years. When WWII started for the US, Sip enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was sent for training to other parts of the country, June following where she could so they could spend some time together before he went overseas. He went off to war In May 1944, successfully flying in combat in his Thunderbolt P47 named “June Iris” with 92 combat missions, including the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. He came home from the war in one piece, highly decorated, although with some battle fatigue that he carried for the rest of his life (see "A Veteran's Day, Then And Now" by Robert C Thorn/rct). He exited the service when the war ended. They lived for a while in La Mesa, when their daughter Sherry Yvonne Thorn was born in 1948 at Balboa Hospital, Sip then decided to reenlist and make the Air Force his career. He loved to fly. He served as an electronics officer, was sent at one point to Turner Air Force Base in Albany Georgia, where in 1955 June and Sip welcomed their second child, Robert Charles Thorn. Sip eventually regained his pilot’s wings and flew again, this time in a converted bomber for refueling jets, called a KB 50. By now, it was 1963 and the family was stationed at Yokota Air Force Base, near Tokyo, Japan. On assignment from that home base, called TDY for temporary duty, Sip led the first flight of KB 50 ‘s over Vietnam. He served with distinction, flying a comparable airplane called the KC 135 at his last duty station, Sacramento, California, when he retired in 1966. Upon his retirement the family returned to its home in La Mesa where Sip was active In the mobile home awning industry until retiring completely in 1974. He and June have lived comfortably in La Mesa until he passed away on May 7 of this year. Sip leaves behind his wife June, son and daughter, with three grandsons, Wayne, Evan and Nathan Thorn, of Rancho San Diego. Their brother Jake greeted his grandfather on the other side.