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Retired Army Major General Thomas Joseph Flynn, a resident of Ellicott City, Maryland and Addison, New York passed away peacefully on June 22, 2025.
Born in Corning, NY, November 2, 1930, he grew up in nearby Addison, NY. He graduated from Addison Central School in 1948. He was proud of his high school years, where he played baseball, basketball, and touch football. He was also very proud of his own pony, horse and cow.
He graduated from Saint Michael’s College at the University of Toronto in 1952. His distinguished Army career began after graduation when he enlisted as a Private in the Army Security Agency (ASA). He trained as a Morse code interceptor, attended the Infantry Officer Candidate School, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, rising to the rank of Major General.
Major General Flynn served twelve years overseas including a tour in Vietnam, where he commanded the Army’s 175th Radio Research Unit at Bien Hoa. He served in Germany twice, for a total of seven years where he commanded Field Station Augsburg (1976-1978), at that time, the largest Army Intelligence Station. He also served in Korea, Hawaii, Japan, and Shemya, Alaska. His assignments in the US included multiple assignments in Virginia, including the Pentagon, four times at Ft. Devens, MA, Camp Wolters TX, and the National Security Agency at Ft. Meade, MD. Following his promotion to Brigadier General, he was assigned as Deputy Commanding General of the US Army Intelligence and Security Command at Arlington Hall Station, VA.
His military education included the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS, the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, AL and the Senior Executive Course at Harvard University. His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with four oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and other service medals. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal by the Director of the CIA, the nation’s highest intelligence medal.
While he enlisted as a Private, his final assignment in the military culminated as the Chief of Staff of the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, MD. Upon retirement in February 1988, he later served as Chairman of the US Signal Intelligence Committee under the direction of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. He was a member of the Phoenix Society.