Hillis, Thurman E., SMSN

I enlisted in Merced, CA in July 1958 and went to boot camp at RTC, San Diego. During my boot camp I caught pneumonia and was transferred to Balboa Naval Hospital, where I spent a month. I was transferred back to NRTC and graduated in 7 October 1958.

My first duty station was Harbor Defense Unit, Point Loma, California on the US Army Base. I was there until the Navy decommissioned the unit in the fall of 1959 and I was transferred to the US Naval Station, San Diego to undergo Re-commissioning Training for the USS Coral Sea. In December 1959 we boarded a troop Transport for Bremerton, WA. I served on the Coral Sea until July 1962. I was discharged from active duty on July 17th, the day we returned from our Far East Cruise and spent two years in the inactive reserve. I was asked to re-enlist for another 4 years and considered it, but was married at that time and wanted to start a family.

Upon leaving the USN, I worked two years in a poultry plant at Turlock, Ca. In 1964 I joined the Merced, California City Police and worked there until Jan 1968 when I joined the US Border Patrol. After graduating from the Border Patrol Academy I was assigned as a Immigration Patrol Inspector at Calexico, CA. I worked there until Sept. 1968 and resigned. It was not the kind of career I wanted. I returned to the Merced Police Department where I stayed until July 1971. I then left the Merced Police Department and went to work as a Special Agent for the ATSF Railroad Police Department in Fresno, California. I stayed with the ATSF until April 1990 when I took a buyout and retired.  I had worked in California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas and Texas and my rank was Assistant Chief of Police.  I tried selling insurance and did some private investigating on the side. In August 1991 I was hired as a Patrolman with the Houston Belt and Terminal Railroad with the promise that I would be their next Chief Special Agent upon the retirement of the current chief. That never came to pass. The Houston Belt and Terminal Railroad was sold to the Union Pacific Railroad and in 1995 I was one of the 5 patrolmen chosen to work for the Union Pacific as a Special Agent. I worked for the Union Pacific as a Special Agent, Background Investigator, Firearms Training Officer,  Lieutenant and  Captain. I retired for a second time in January 2007.