Peter Thomas was born on June 28, 1924, and died on April 30, 2016.
He was an American announcer and narrator of television programs.
He has worked on shows such as Nova, Forensic Files, and Medical Detectives.
He started his career at fourteen as an announcer on a local radio show.
As the station could not pay him, due to his age, they arranged for the sponsor, Piper Aircraft, to give him flying lessons in a Piper Cub.
Over just a few years, Peter would be hosting Big Band remotes.
During the time of World War II, in 1943, he left The Stony Brook School and volunteered for the United States Army, after being offered an Armed Forces Radio deferment, and served with the First Infantry Division in five major campaigns, including the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.
Thomas was given a Battle star for each of the five campaigns.
Peter Thomas was also awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Unit French Croix de guerre, and Belgian Fourragère.
He has received many awards for his work but cited, as one of his best, the Oscar won by a documentary he narrated, One Survivor Remembers.
A film produced by HBO, chronicles the personal encounter of Gerda Weissman Klein, who was interned at the Nordhausen Concentration Camp when she was a teenager.
Peter Thomas’ unit took part in the haunting liberation of Nordhausen.
Also, Klein and Thomas met during the post-production of the documentary, and again at its premiere.
He also participated in an HBO film on the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, in which he fought with the 1st Infantry Division (United States).
He was also the narrator for a miniseries that ran on The Discovery Channel in 1993 entitled How the West was Lost.
He was the narrator for the two-hour Nova episode entitled D-Day’s Sunken Secrets, broadcast May 28, 2014, just before the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings; he participated in the original D-Day landing on Omaha Beach.
He was married to Stella (Barrineau) Thomas until her 2014 death, and resided in Naples, Florida.
Peter Thomas was involved in work with veterans, having served on the board of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation and in other similar roles.
Peter Thomas passed away at 91 yrs old.