He survived Pearl Harbor. He survived Tulagi. He survived the wilds of Africa and the steaming jungles of Central America. This is just one chapter from the extraordinary life of Thomas J. Larson.Ensign "Swede" Larson arrived at Pearl Harbor on December 5th, 1941. He was Executive Officer on YP 109 (Yacht Patrol) through a great storm from Long Beach, California. He was transferred to CinCPac staff, and on December 7th, 1941, was delivering messages to Admiral Kimmel and his staff when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He served with Admiral Chester Nimitz until July 1942, then was assigned to Admiral Ghormley's ComSoPac staff in New Caledonia. On November 30th, he was flown to Guadalcanal, and then next day went to Tulagi as a communicator. He ended the war on the USS Lexington aircraft carrier going into Tokyo Bay in late August of 1945. His peace time career was as an explorer, and professor of Anthropology with many years of field research in Africa. He has degrees from UC Berkeley, MA American U, M Litt Oxford, PhD University of Virginia.
