World War II to SJU: Centenarian Alumnus Reflected on Service and Time on Hawk Hill
Thomas A. Cairns Jr., BS ’51, reflected on his military service and his time at Saint Joseph’s 75 years after graduating.
Assistant Vice President of Advancement Thomas Fithian, BS ’98, MBA '07; William Myers, BS ’51; Thomas Cairns Jr, BS ’51; and National Alumni Board President David Lam, BS '05, MS '07, gathered on campus in late March for a centenarian Hawk homecoming.
Thomas A. Cairns Jr., BS ’51, was playing basketball on the deck of a United States transport ship when he got word that World War II had ended.
“We paused for about five seconds, and then the first thing I heard someone say was, ‘Okay, let’s go. Shoot the ball!’” he recalled. “We just hoped the German submarines had also gotten the message, since we then turned our lights on for the first time.”
Cairns, who enlisted just after graduating from Upper Darby High School in 1942, was part of the United States Maritime Service, an organization established just before World War II that moved vital cargo and personnel for Allied Forces. He completed seven round trips throughout the course of the war.
“My first trip was out of Philadelphia, and we were on our way to Russia with 10,000 tons of ammunition to support the Russian troops when we broke down in the Irish Sea,” Cairns said. “We were then reassigned to Cherbourg, France, and most of what we unloaded was used in the Battle of the Bulge. We were sure that we had contributed mightily to those results.”
When Cairns enrolled at Saint Joseph’s University (then College) to study marketing in the fall of 1947, 80% of the incoming class had already served in the war and were returning to school.
“Tom was part of a wave of veterans who pushed enrollment at the College well past pre-war levels. These were the original adult learners at scale, bringing personal experience and maturity to the campus classrooms,” says Hank Gillen, MBA, director of the Office of Veteran Services.
Seventy-five years after graduation, Cairns was one of the few remaining members of the Class of 1951 to have graduated during the University’s centennial. This interview was completed shortly before his passing.
“There was one building for students to live in, and all of our learning aside from philosophy and religion took place in Barbelin Hall” Cairns remembered. “During my sophomore or junior year, they started building what would become the Field House, and the first activity there was professional tennis. We used to go over at lunchtime and after school to watch the pros, and it was so exciting to have the courts occupied.”
Cairns recalled skipping class with a friend to go to Shibe Park to watch the Phillies play the Yankees in the 1950 World Series.
“We paid a dollar for our tickets,” he said. “We ended up sitting right in center field watching Joe DiMaggio play.”
Immediately after his graduation from Saint Joseph’s, Cairns went to work for the National Security Agency (NSA) in Washington, D.C. At 27, he re-enlisted for the Korean War, returning to the NSA in a military capacity.
“Before President Roosevelt died, he initiated a bill saying that all Merchant Marine men would be considered veterans in all respects,” Cairns explained. “This was in 1944, but that bill didn’t go into effect until much later. Because of that, when I was with the National Security Agency as a young man, I was still eligible to be redrafted until I was 35. Rather than be redrafted later in my career, I re-enlisted then.”
Cairns was honorably discharged in 1955 after receiving a National Defense Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal.
He went on to work for Ford Motor Company as a field manager, starting with 18 dealerships in his zone of responsibility.
“I had zero experience in the job, but a day and a half into my time with the company, I was in the field hedging contracts with dealers to help them sell our product,” Cairns says. “I had to learn on the fly, and eventually I was named general field manager, responsible for all 12 of the zones with 178 dealers. Thankfully, my education at St. Joe’s was very practical. So much of what I learned in my marketing courses was applied in the industry, because my professors were both in the marketing field, so I knew I was getting the skinny — that’s an old-fashioned way of saying I was getting real knowledge.”
Thomas A. Cairns Jr., BS ’51, died on May 20, 2026. Services will be held at the Sacred Heart Church on May 29, 2026, in Riverton, New Jersey.
