During his distinguished 24-year military career, Col "Tik" Tokaz was an admired leader - from the battlefield to the Pentagon.



Tokaz trained the first permanently stationed B-25 air crews at the Columbia Army Air Base, shortly after Doolittle's Raiders had gathered there.



Tokaz went on to fly combat missions with the 340th Bomb Group and later became the unit's commander at the young age of 30. He personally received the surrender of the first Italian pilots to defect from the Italian Fascist Air Force.



Tokaz planned and flew in B-25 bombing missions against Field Marshal Rommel's forces during the North Africa Campaign. His unit was also heavily involved in the bombing of enemy troops, fortifications, and supply lines throughout the Mediterranean theatre of operations. During his wartime experience, Tokaz flew 17 combat missions. The 340th was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation by Gen. Ira Eaker, commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Force.



After the war, Tokaz participated in the secret hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific in 1951. He piloted the C-47 transport from which an Air Force photographer snapped the first official government photograph of the first hydrogen bomb explosion. The photo was published in newspapers around the world.