Thoburn Hughes Wiant, class of 1932

Thoburn Hughes Wiant was born April 23, 1911, at Lagro, Indiana, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Warren W. Wiant. His father had been district superintendent of the Methodist Church and a former pastor of Centeral Methodist Church. Thoburn Wiant was a 1932 graduate of DePauw University and did post graduate work at Butler University and Benjamin Harrison Law School. He served on the staff of the Indianapolis News and with the office of the Indiana bureau, Associate Press, then joined the New York City AP office staff. During World War II he was a war correspondent for the Associated Press, starting in Cairo, Egypt, and moving into the Burma-China-India theater of operations in 1942. He served continuously in Burma and China until the June 15, 1944 B-29 raid on Yawata, Japan, flying on air missions and living with ground troops of Gen. Stilwell's forces as they fought through the jungles of Burma. He was awarded the Air Medal in Washington August 15, 1944, for "meritorious achievement" while participating in aerial flights from December 26, 1942 to September 6, 1943. After reporting on the Yawata air raid, he was granted a leave of absence, then was sent to the European theater, where he reported on Gen. Patton's advance. He died in 1963 at the age of 51.