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Auburn, Jan. 31---Retired Lt. Col. Donald C. Thomas Jr. will speak to 400 youth on the Auburn campus Feb. 14 during the third Annual Teen Challenge Summit.

Thomas will be the featured speaker at a special luncheon Feb. 14 at the Dixon Conference Center on the Auburn University campus. Thomas also will speak to students at Samford Middle School in Auburn at 9:30 a.m.

Thomas served in the military more than 37 years before retiring in 1983. He is a Tuskegee Airman and, following his commissioning by the Aviation Cadet Program, flew a variety of aircraft, including single- and multi-engine propeller, as well as jet and twin-engine amphibious. Through the years, Thomas logged more than 6,800 flight hours.

Just prior to his retirement, Thomas was assigned as chief, Resources Management Division, Office of the Chief of Security Police, USAF, Europe. He administered the command security police equipment and budget programs, managed the working dog program, and established security police training programs, including unit training, wartime force structure programs, and proficiency and collateral training. He also monitored all command security police manpower authorizations and standards and the assignment of approximately 6,000 command personnel.

Thomas' military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Unit Citation, the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, the Navy Unit Commendation Medal, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Combat Readiness Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Service Medal with Three Campaign Stars, and both Long and Short Tour Medals.

After his retirement from active military duty in 1983, Thomas accepted a teaching position with the Department of Defense Dependent School in Germany and transferred to Panama in 1995. He retired again in Feb. 1998 after teaching 12 years, and returned to Detroit. Once in Detroit, Col. and Mrs. Thomas were hired with the Detroit Board of Education, as teachers where they began their teaching careers more than 40 years earlier.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Thomas was educated in the Detroit Public School System and received three degrees in science and science education from Wayne State University. He used Detroit National Science Fellowships to further post master's degree studies at Howard University, the University of Washington, Yale University and North Carolina A&T State University.

Col. and Mrs. Thomas have been married more than 50 years and have five children: Dr. Donald C. Thomas III, immediate past deputy director of clinical and medical services for Los Angeles County; Detective Dirk C. Thomas, Las Vegas Metro Police Department; Dyora Thomas Kinsey, deputy director, Army ROTC Scholarship Selection Board; Duane C. Thomas, mechanical engineer for Essex Wire Company; and Dayle C. Thomas, director, after-school program, Detroit School of Arts and Sciences.