Daniel Hernandez Thomas was born in Hanford California to his parents Aurora (Gloria) Hernandez and William Thomas Sr. He had an older sister Virginia, an older brother Robert, and younger siblings Helen, Peter, Manuel and their last surviving sibling being their youngest brother Henry, also of Hanford California. Daniel is also survived by his six children; Patricia M. Hernandez, Daniel Thomas Jr, William Thomas, Josephine T. Garcia, Samuel Thomas and Mirasol T. Hernandez all of Hanford Ca. He had 19 grand children, 25 great grand children and 3 great great grand children and many nieces and nephews. He sadly lost his wife, Sally Thomas to cancer on January 9th, 2022.
Daniel worked in farm labor with his mother after completing the 8th grade up until enlisting into the United States Army on February 9th 1951 when he was 17 years old. After completing basic training he was sent to war in Korea where in under 3 months on October 21st 1951 Daniel was wounded in battle with serious injuries to his upper right arm as well as losing his third and fourth fingers. For this he was awarded the Purple Heart medal, which is the highest award automatically given to a soldier. In 1954 the Korean War was over and he completed his service with a Korean service medal with a bronze battle star, Korean war service medal, a combat infantry badge, national defense medal and United Nations service medal.
Despite only having an 8th grade education, Daniel went on to complete courses at a technical engineering trade school to become an automobile mechanic and worked with his step father Pete Lopez at his small auto mechanics shop. He had a love of writing, which led him to write an article in the Hanford Sentinel expressing his concerns for Hanford’s desperate need of a drug rehabilitation center. His experience as a veteran led him to helping others and involved himself in many charities, church organizations and labor unions.
By all accounts Daniel lived a humble life and built special bonds and relationships with his children and grandchildren sharing stories of his life. He was quite the character with his crass remarks and wise cracks. We loved him tremendously and were proud to hear of all his accomplishments.
Services for Daniel will be held on Thursday, October 12th, 2023 at the Peoples Chapel, his viewing from 4:00-6:00pm. He will be laid to rest the following week, Tuesday October 17th at 10am at the Calvary graveyard in Hanford California.
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