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- The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, July 6, 2014
Thomas E. Bass III
Thomas E. Bass III, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired), Charlottesville, Virginia Rear Admiral Thomas E. Bass III, United States Navy, Retired, 96, departed this life on Monday, June 30, 2014, at his residence at Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge in Charlottesville, Virginia. Admiral Bass was born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in Eastern North Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1938, and following graduate work served as a teacher, an athletic coach, and as a district principal in the public school system of North Carolina. He entered the United States Navy as an ensign in August 1942. During World War II, Admiral Bass commanded a submarine chaser, SC 676, in the Mediterranean Sea. He participated in the North African campaign and in the Allied invasions of Sicily, Italy, and Southern France. He also campaigned with the Yugoslav partisans in the German occupied areas of Yugoslavia. Admiral Bass held seven commands at sea, the aforementioned sub chaser, a fleet minesweeper, and a Gearing class destroyer, the USS Harold J. Ellison (DD864), which was awarded the Battle Efficiency "E." He also commanded Destroyer Division 102, Destroyer Squadron 26 which was the Navy's first guided missile destroyer squadron, and several cruiser-destroyer flotillas and battle groups in the western Pacific during the Viet Nam conflict.
Admiral Bass also served as Aide and Flag Secretary to Commander of the Sixth Fleet and as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. He was Director of Officer Distribution for the Bureau of Naval Personnel, and a Branch Head in Strategic Plans in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Mine Warfare School, the Armed Forces Staff College, the Senior Course of the Naval War College, and the NATO Defense College in Paris, France. Admiral Bass was the acting Commanding Officer and Commissioning Executive Officer of the United States Navy Destroyers School in Newport, Rhode Island, now known as the Surface Warfare School. In 1974, following a tour of duty as Commandant of the Thirteenth Naval District in Seattle, Washington, Admiral Bass retired from active naval service and became the Executive Director of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association and Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Admiral Bass retired from Stratford Hall in 1988, and settled in the Charlottesville area. He returned to Stratford twice as an interim Executive Director, and eventually retired as Executive Director Emeritus in the mid-1990s. Admiral Bass was a Trustee of the United States Naval Historical Foundation, and a former President of the James Monroe Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR). He served as Historian for the Thomas Jefferson Chapter of the SAR and President of the Charlottesville Council of the Navy League of the United States. Admiral Bass was a member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA), the Executive Committee of the Lee Jackson Foundation, and of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He was a member of the vestry and Senior Warden of Christ Episcopal Church in Charlottesville, and served at Christ Church and St. James Episcopal Church, Montross, Virginia, as Lay Reader and Lay Eucharistic Minister. He was a former President of the Historical Society of the Northern Neck and of the Charlottesville Branch of the English Speaking Union. Admiral Bass was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, and the Board of Directors of the United Way - Thomas Jefferson area. Admiral Bass actively participated in the Turner Society into his mid-nineties discussing and debating controversial topics of current interest.
Admiral Bass was predeceased in 2012 by his wife of 66 years, Sophia Redwood Bass, of Asheville, North Carolina. He is survived by his three children, sons, Thomas E. Bass IV and his wife, Kathie, of Jamestown, North Carolina, Robert R. Bass, MD, and his wife, Chris, of Annapolis, Maryland; and daughter, Catherine Carter Bass of Ruckersville, Virginia. He is also survived by four grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and seven nieces and nephews.
A funeral service and celebration of Admiral Bass' life will be held on Wednesday, July 9, 2014, at 11 a.m. with a reception to follow, at Christ Episcopal Church, 120 W. High Street, Charlottesville, Virginia. An interment at St. James Episcopal Church, Montross, Virginia, will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, the United Way, the United States Navy League Foundation Scholarship Fund, or Stratford Hall.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1917 - 2014 (96 years)