Navy Career
After serving at sea in USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) until September 1939 and in USS J. Fred Talbott (DD-156) until July 1940, he was transferred to Pensacola, Florida, for flight training. Thornhill received his naval aviator's wings on January 23, 1941 and soon thereafter reported for duty at the Naval Air Station at Opa-Locka, Florida.
Following another assignment ashore at San Diego, California, Thornhill joined carrier-based Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2 on August 13, 1941. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Thornhill served with his ship, USS Lexington (CV-2), during the first month of the war, patrolling the Johnston-Palmyra-Oahu triangle against possible enemy incursions. In February and March, he participated in the carrier's offensive patrols in the Coral Sea and in the attacks on Japanese installations at Salamaua and Lae located on the northern coast of New Guinea.
Early May found Lexington patrolling the Coral Sea after two weeks of upkeep in Pearl Harbor. Thornhill piloted one of the 12 TBD-1 torpedo bombers launched during mid-morning on May 7 to seek out and destroy Japanese forces converging on the Australian base at Port Moresby.
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