Thomas W. Gillette was born in Bath, Maine in 1931. When he was a small child, his mother left him and his father. As a child, he would go down to the bridge by the river and watch destroyers being built under Roosevelt's [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] program to refurbish the Navy during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. Seven years later in 1937, his mother remarried to a commander in the Navy that oversaw this program. Gillette was raised by his father and housekeeper until 1940 when his mother gained custody of him. His father worked in the civilian service and had to go overseas. In 1939, his stepfather, Claude Gillette [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Rear Admiral Claude Sexton Gillette], was promoted to Captain and oversaw the increased expansion of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. In two years, the shipyard expanded so much that the personnel went from 500 employees to 4,000 employees. In June 1940, Gillette moved to Hawaii to join his mother, stepfather, and sister. Gillette said that when he lived in Bath, his father did not know what to do with him without a mother. His father decided to coach the football team of a school and became friendly with the superintendent. Because of this Gillette was able to begin kindergarten at age three. When he moved to Pearl Harbor, he was only eight but in the 5th grade. He was aware of the war events. He remembers reading "Germany Invades Poland" in the Chicago Tribune newspaper. For the first eight years of his life, he was raised by a Nova Scotian [Annotator's Note: person from Nova Scotia, Canada] woman. He knew her as his mother. Before moving to Pearl Harbor, he only saw his mother in 1937, and stayed a week in Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] in 1938 with her and his stepfather. After Gillette moved to Pearl Harbor, he did not see his birth father for the next 12 years. Gillette went to nine different schools in an eight year time span. He took the surname of his stepfather although he did not legally change it until his was 21 years old. His birth father was not happy about Gillette's decision and refused to talk to him for many years. His mother picked him up in Bath and brought him to Pearl Harbor. They took a ship from San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] after attending the 1940 San Francisco World Exposition. They stayed at the Fairmont Hotel and Gillette loved the swimming pool. When he arrived in Hawaii, he was not feeling well and was sent to his quarters. He had contracted the measles. Once he healed and was able to get out and see the city, he began to enjoy his time.

Thomas W. Gillette moved from Bath, Maine to Hawaii [Annotator's Note: in 1940 to live with his sister, Lydia Grant whose oral history is also available on this Digital Collections website, mother and stepfather, later US Navy Rear Admiral Claude Sexton Gillette]. His lifestyle changed when he moved, which in some ways was great, but in other ways it was not so great. The biggest change was that there were not many kids his age on the naval base. He was taken to a public school in Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii], and later to Punahou School private school [Annotator's Note: in Honolulu]. Gillette was popular at school and was elected president of his sixth grade class. He lived on base near a golf course and near battleship row. Gillette took up golf and got a new bicycle. He often went to the commissary or to the office of his stepfather, at the administration office nearby. He also rode his bike to the dry docks to watch the construction. He went to the outfitting piers and watched ships being repaired. He would often see sailors passing his house on their way to liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time]. He had a lemonade stand outside to offer to the sailors passing by. The sailors would give him match covers, which Gillette kept and donated to the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. He swam at the submarine base. He would also go to the nearby movie theater with his family. The theater was near oil tanks that were not hit during the Pearl Harbor attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Gillette went aboard one of the tankers and saw how they loaded and unloaded oil tanks. He learned about the Red Hill underground fuel storage [Annotator's Note: The Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility] and floating tanks work.

Thomas W. Gillette's parents were very much into the social scene in Hawaii. They often had luaus and cooked Hawaiian culinary dishes. His family was invited to dine with the captain on the USS Milwaukee (CL-5). Gillette also stayed three nights on the USS Arizona (BB-39) three weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. He dined with the captain [Annotator's Note: US Navy Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh] and was given a tour of the ship. He watched a movie on the quarter deck. He was very impressed with the USS Arizona (BB-39). He slept on the day couch in the admiral's cabin. Because his sister was not allowed to sleep on the ship, she and several of her friends were given an invitation to dine with the admiral on the evening of 7 December 1941. On 30 November 1941, the Army and Navy played a football game. The senior officers of the ships on Battleship Row [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] came over to Gillette's house to listen to the game being broadcast over the radio. They had a blackboard where Gillette plotted the plays for his guests. He heard the officers talk about how in a matter of weeks, war would commence with Japan. He heard them discussing if Japan would bypass the Philippines. The United States had an isolationist attitude, and the officers were debating how it was a fifty-fifty chance they would declare war on Japan if they invaded Malaya [Annotator's Note: then British Mayala, Malay Peninsula] or Dutch East Indies [Annotator's Note: present day Indonesia]. The Hawaiian newspaper had a headline a day later that said the Japanese will attack Hawaii in a week and the United States is prepared. Gillette was aware of Japanese hostility because he read newspapers at a young age. In 1940 his mother ordered a table and chairs set from overseas. It took a year to make and by that time she was not sure if she would receive it because of war brewing. She did finally receive her order two weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. That same dining room set now resides in his daughter-in-law's home in Maine. The attack came as a complete surprise. There were over 75,000 military personnel and four radar stations on the island at the time of the attack. He believes that the island was prepared for the attack, but everyone was asleep when it occurred.

The Japanese attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] started at five minutes before eight in the morning. Thomas W. Gillette and his mother were at a neighbor's house. He was playing with his friend, while their mothers were having coffee. His sister was still asleep at their house. All a sudden they heard a roar and Gillette, and his friend ran outside to see where the noise was coming from. When he looked up, he saw half of the first wave of the Japanese torpedo planes. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings in the background at 0:40:40.000.] The planes were flying in a single line, low and slowly to drop the torpedoes. He thinks that they were a hundred feet over his head as they crossed. He thinks he saw about seven of the 20 planes of the first wave. By this time, his mother had met him at the front of the house. Gillette said, "Look at the torpedo planes!" Her response was, "God damnit, those aren't ours! Get the hell inside!" The planes held three people, the pilot, navigator, and the gunner and did not have machine guns. The gunner took pictures of the destruction. Gillette could see the pilots because their canopies on the plane were pulled back. When he got back inside the house, his mother told him to hunker down in the fake fireplace in the living room. He heard shots firing in his direction and lots of other noise. Within five minutes, his mother was able to get in touch with his sister. She had told her mother that there were machine gun bullet holes above her bed. Later they found shrapnel on the roof of their house that Gillette still has today. His sister thought at first it was an exercise but soon realized the reality of it and ran over the meet him and his mother at the neighbor's house. Between the first and second wave, they ran back over to their house. Also, between the two waves, the Marines had come over and set up a .50 caliber machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun] outside his house. A retired lieutenant commander who went by the name "Frenchy", came over to check on Gillette and his family. Throughout the attack, he saw smoke and planes, and heard noises, but did not see the destruction going on. After the second wave was over and they thought it was safe, they got in their car and headed to Fort DeRussy [Annotator's Note: now Fort DeRussy Beach Park, Honolulu, Hawaii] recreational center for the armed forces. On the way, they followed a flatbed truck that carried wounded people being transported to hospitals. When they arrived at Fort DeRussy, his mother contacted a friend named, Alfred Blatt [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify], who oversaw the pineapple plantations in Oahu [Annotator's Note: Oahu, Hawaii]. He gave Gillette's family permission to stay in one of his houses outside the shipyard. His father was on Maui [Annotator's Note: Maui, Hawaii] on the day the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. To this day, Gillette does not know why his father was ordered to leave for Maui the day before the attack. Two days after the attack, Gillette watched the ships burn on Battleship Row. A few days later, he was able to return to his house. They were not allowed to go anywhere. They had to practice air raid drills. He had to wear a gas mask and go into an air raid shelter they built behind the officers' quarters. Women got hysterical thinking they smelled poison gas while hiding in the air raid shelter. Days after the attack, military personnel were repairing the house and packing up their belongings, then putting in new furniture for new military personnel coming in from the mainland. Gillette and his family were being arranged to leave Hawaii. When asked how he felt during the attack, Gillette said "I was too young and too dumb to be scared. I wanted to watch the show." Although he was a just a kid, he felt that war was on the brink because of what he read and learned from conversations of others. After Pearl Harbor, his thoughts were that America is in the war now.

Four days prior to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], Thomas W. Gillette's stepfather, Rear Admiral Claude Gillette, was notified that he was going to be transferred to Washington, D.C., so his family was preoccupied with logistics and preparation of the move. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings at 0:56:26.000.] After the attack, all that changed. His stepfather did not leave the island until after the Battle of Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942, Midway Atoll] and went to Washington in the first week of June [Annotator's Note: June 1942]. Gillette and the rest of his family left Hawaii and stayed with his grandmother in Bath, Maine. Gillette's stepfather was good friends with Admiral Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet], and he saw him and the USS Yorktown (CV-5) when it was brought into Pearl Harbor before the Battle of Midway. When his stepfather settled in Washington, D.C., Gillette, and his family joined him in June [Annotator's Note: June 1942]. Six months later, his stepfather was promoted to Admiral and transferred to Puget Sound [Annotator's Note: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound, near Bremerton, Washington]. There were some discrepancies and personnel issues with the transfer of his stepfather. Gillette's stepfather received the Legion of Merit [Annotator's Note: the Legion of Merit is awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for exceptionally meritorious conduct and outstanding service], the highest non-combat medal a person in the service could receive. When his family left Washington, D.C. in December 1942 to head to Washington state, they went through El Paso [Annotator's Note: El Paso, Texas]. It was cold and snowy. When they arrived in Seattle [Annotator's Note: Seattle, Washington], they were greeted with bad, snowy weather. Many of his stepfather's friends and acquaintances perished in the Pearl Harbor attack, but he did not witness how it affected his stepfather because he was so busy with his assignments. Gillette's stepfather told him that his first mission was to repair the USS Helena (CL-50) that took a torpedo. His stepfather had to decide whether to dry dock the ship or not. Gillette knew many of the officers who died at Pearl Harbor, but not personally because he was just a kid.

Right after the attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], Thomas W. Gillette was ordered to remain his house until 24 December 1941, then he and his mother, sister, and neighbors went to the Aloha dock in Honolulu [Annotator's Note: Honolulu, Hawaii], boarded the Lurline [Annotator's Note: SS Lurline] and sailed to San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California] in a convoy with two other ships. His family and neighbor friends, the Higgins, had to share a cabin. He was issued a lifer preserver and sailed across the Pacific for about seven days. They landed in San Francisco on New Year's Eve [Annotator's Note: 31 December 1941]. The ship sailed a northern route and zig-zagged [Annotator's Note: a naval anti-submarine maneuver]. He heard depth charges [Annotator's Note: also called a depth bomb; an anti-submarine explosive munition resembling a metal barrel or drum] during the night. Water was only used for drinking purposes. He did not go out of the cabin very often, but when he did, he was required to wear a life preserver. Besides women and children, there were some inured military personnel on board. [Annotator's Note: Gillette begins to sing a song that they sang while on the voyage.] The cruiser USS St. Louis (CL-49) was an escort for their convoy to San Francisco, along with six destroyers. As they entered the San Francisco Harbor, the sun was rising over the Golden Gate Bridge [Annotator's Note: suspension bridge in San Francisco, California]. When he disembarked, his family went to Treasure Island [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Treasure Island, San Francisco Bay, California] and stayed at the quarters of Captain Kelly [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] for the night. Gillette came down with ptomaine poisoning [Annotator's Note: type of food poison] and was told by the military to keep quiet about his illness because he contracted it while on the ship. Two days later his family caught a train to Maine. The weather was 40 degrees below zero as they went through Wyoming. His train was halted for 12 hours as a military supply train had to travel across country to the west coast. He had to change trains twice, once in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] and once in Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts]. Gillette stayed in Maine for a short while before traveling across country again in December 1942 to Puget Sound [Annotator's Note: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound, near Bremerton, Washington]. On this trip, his stepfather's [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral Claude Sexton Gillette] aide traveled with Gillette's family. The aide, who would be a future editor for Newsweek Magazine [Annotator's Note: American weekly magazine], documented a daily chronology of their trip. Not long after Gillette and his sister arrived in Washington State, they were forced to take a trip back to Maine because their birth father wanted full custody of them. They had to be present for the trial.

At Puget Sound [Annotator's Note: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound, near Bremerton, Washington], Thomas W. Gillette's family lived at the Bremerton Navy Yard [Annotator's Note: because his stepfather, US Navy Rear Admiral Claude Gillette, oversaw the Navy Yard]. He attended school and was 13 when he entered high school. He sold newspapers to make some extra money. He strategically set up in the busy Navy Yard so he could sell a lot of papers and made 12 dollars a day. While living on Puget Sound, he was able to go aboard many damaged ships. The first damage ship he ever boarded was a British ship damaged at Malta, when it docked in Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] for repairs. Gillette boarded the USS New Orleans (CA-32) and USS Suwannee (CVE-27) when they docked at Puget Sound for repairs. He also boarded several battleships in Puget Sound including the USS Nevada (BB-36), the USS Tennessee (BB-33), the USS California (BB-44), and the USS West Virginia (BB-48) for repairs after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He commented on meeting Captain Gehres [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Rear Admiral Leslie Edward Gehres] and coming to their house for dinner after the USS Franklin (CV-13) docked for repairs after being damaged in the Battle of Leyte. Two destroyers that survived a typhoon came to Puget Sound for repairs. Gillette, as a child, collected match book covers of all the naval ships, which he donated to the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. Gillette's boat, the YO-43 [Annotator's Note: the yard oiler YO-43 was christened by Gillette's sister, Lydia Grant, whose oral history interview is also available on this Digital Collections website] and it got a battle commendation while at Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway, 4 to 7 June 1942, Midway Atoll] because it brought fuel the planes. Gillette was well read and not surprised to see them. He did not participate in much of the community war efforts like growing a victory garden and collecting scrap. Although he and his family were required to ration, they were able to receive more gas stamps because they traveled across the country frequently. Because his stepfather was an amateur hunter and fisherman, they were able to eat well during the food rationing. All the Navy officers had Filipino house servants that tended to orchards and gardens at the back of the house.

Thomas W. Gillette's days were busy while he lived at the shipyard [Annotator's Note: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound, near Bremerton, Washington] because he would go to school in the morning and then sell newspapers at the shipyard until the evening. When he had spare time, he went to the bowling alley. He would go to the recreation center and eat ice cream. He did not associate with a lot of people. When USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations] shows came to Puget Sound, Ginger Rogers [Annotator's Note: American actress, dancer, and singer] would stay with his family. Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] came to Puget sound to campaign for the 1944 election. He looked very ill. Neither Gillette nor his stepfather [Annotator's Note: US Navy Rear Admiral Claude Sexton Gillette] paid much attention to what the president said. He also overheard people talking about work being held up because of his visit. While his family lived in Hawaii, Shirley Temple [Annotator's Note: Shirley Temple Blackmore; American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat] was in town to christen the USS Northampton (CA-26). His stepfather invited the entertainer to the birthday party of Gillette's sister [Annotator's Note: Lydia Grant; Grant's oral history is also available on this Digital Collections website]. Once, the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) was at a dry dock and the mooring line slipped and killed two sailors instantly. The body bags were being carried off the ship when it reached the dry dock. When he went aboard ship, he was only allowed to go on the quarter deck. He would often sell newspapers on the deck. Years after his stepfather was retired, they stepped aboard a ship and a Marine asked for their identification. When the Marine saw "RADM" he asked if his stepfather was a radio man. His stepfather quickly corrected the Marine by saying "Rear Admiral." Gillette stayed at Puget Sound until March 1945. His stepfather requested to be transferred to Connecticut and retired from the Navy in 1946. While living in Connecticut, Gillette contracted typhoid fever. He eventually moved to Bath, Maine and finished his last two years of high school there. He then attended Webb Institute [Annotator's Note: in Glen Cove, New York] for engineering school. The head of the school was one of his father's acquaintances, Admiral Robinson [Annotator's Note: US Navy Admiral Samuel Murray Robinson]. He was a major part of the relocation of the school from the Bronx [Annotator's Note: the Bronx is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York] to Glen Cove. Gillette was impressed with the new campus, but he worked long hours to receive the required credits. While he was in school, he worked in several engineering positions on a ship each year. [Annotator's Note: Gillette discusses the concerns of nuclear and fusion engineering.] By his last year of school, he felt like he knew everything about a ship and how to operate one. He also worked as an assistant engineer at the Bethel Steel [Annotator's Note: Bethlehem Steel] in Princeton [Annotator's Note: Princeton, New Jersey].

After Thomas W. Gillette completed college, the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953] had begun. Because he was draftable, he decided to enlist in the Navy. Since he had a college degree in engineering, he was able to attend officer's school. He returned to Puget Sound [Annotator's Note: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound, near Bremerton, Washington] for two months of officer school. He met a pipe master and an acquaintance of his stepfather [Annotator's Note: Rear Admiral Claude Gillette]. Gillette worked with the shop masters on the ship. His first job was on an attack transport. He worked with the chief petty officer to give out daily tasks to sailors. He was in the service for three years. The first year he worked on a conversion project of a carrier. He installed the first steam catapult on a ship, which is now a common installation. He next worked on overhauls including minesweepers, and coast guard cutters. He also oversaw the installation of Regulus missiles [Annotator's Note: SSM-N-8A Regulus, also called Regulus I, ship launched, nuclear capable missile] and eight inch [Annotator's Note: eight inch 55 caliber gun] main battery gun turrets capable of firing nuclear projectiles aboard the USS Toledo (CA-133). He left the service in December 1955 and worked for Exxon [Annotator's Note: Exxon Mobil Corporation] in 1956, focusing on price control. He later worked in external affairs for Exxon shipping company, overseeing litigation in oil spills, trading relations, and economic analysis. He retired from Exxon in 1992 and continued to do contract work with them until 1996 with his consulting company. He fully retired in the early 2000s.

At the conclusion of World War 2, there were celebrations, but Thomas W. Gillette did not participate because he had contracted typhoid fever [Annotator's Note: also known as typhus, a group of infectious diseases]. It took two weeks for doctors to diagnose him. Gillette thinks he contracted typhoid when he went to a baseball game in Connecticut with his birth father. While he was isolated in his room with his illness, he could hear the noises and celebrations going on outside during VJ-Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945]. When his stepfather [Annotator's Note: Rear Admiral Claude Gillette] retired from the Navy, things slowed down a bit. He assisted a metal works union in Washington, D.C. After the war, Gillette returned to school, and visited his grandparents for the summer. While he was older and in college, he took two girls out at the Rainbow Club in Oslo [Annotator's Note: Oslo, Norway] over New Year's Eve night. He and his friend were able to pay their way with a carton of cigarettes. He also went to Poland and saw Russians waiting at the end of gangways with dogs. Many of the cities were all still damaged and buildings were in rubble. He felt uncomfortable while he was in Poland. It made him aware of the differences between America and Poland. The country had a bad economy, and the Russians took what they wanted. When he graduated from college, there were only nine graduates including him because it was a challenging engineering program. He kept in touch with many of his friends from college.

Thomas W. Gillette's most memorable experience of World War 2 was seeing the Japanese planes fly over his house during the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. Besides the torpedoes, the Japanese were bombing. He remembers counting 13 ships at the Puget Sound [Annotator's Note: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Puget Sound, near Bremerton, Washington] dry docks for repair. Gillette believes that prior to World War 2, the military and the Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States] administration were preparing for inevitable war and that is why two dry docks were built in Puget Sound and two more in Hawaii. Gillette was discharged from the Navy in 1955 with the rank of JG [Annotator's Note: Lieutenant junior grade]. He continued to stay in the reserves but became busy with his career with Exxon [Annotator's Note: Exxon Mobil Corporation]. Gillette decided to enlist in the Navy because of the influence of his father, but also because of another admiral that he admired and was stationed at Puget Sound. Gillette did consider staying in the Navy as a career, but the Korean War ended [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], the Navy was decommissioning ships, and depleting personnel. If he stayed in the Navy, his options would have been limited. He also was a newlywed, and his bride did not want him to stay in the Navy. He decided to make a career at Exxon. When he enlisted in the Navy and applied to be an officer, he chose to be a non-line officer. Gillette has written at least 200 pages of memories of his life to give to his children and grandchildren. He has no desire to publish a book. He oversaw some litigation while he worked at the Exxon company.