Robert G. Thompson

Who was Robert G. Thompson?

Robert George Thompson, was a distinguished US soldier who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II but was later jailed for several years for his communist sympathies.

Thompson's first foray into war was with the Spanish Republicans in the Civil War in Spain against General Franco and the Spanish Nationalists, as a battalion commander with the all-American volunteer Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Following the Spanish Civil War, Thompson saw action during World War II in the Pacific Theater. He was cited for extraordinary heroism during the American New Guinea Campaign, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and was approved for a battlefield commission as an officer. The citation read:

"For extraordinary heroism in action near Tarakena, New Guinea, on January 11, 1943. Volunteering to lead a small patrol in an attempt to establish a foothold on the opposite shore, Staff Sergeant Thompson swam the swollen and rapid Konembi River in broad daylight and under heavy enemy fire. Armed only with a pistol and hand granades, he assisted in towing a rope to the other shore where he remained under cover of the bank and directed the crossing of his platoon.