'Forensic Files' Voice Peter Thomas Dropped Nazis Across Europe with ‘the Big Red One’

There are many people out there who may not know what Peter Thomas looks like, but they definitely know what he sounds like.

Thomas was widely called "the greatest voice in the history of American broadcasting" by his peers, and there's a good reason for it. He was a renowned voice actor whose credits included news, documentaries and commercials for everything from Coca-Cola to "Monday Night Football," from "Nova" to the History Channel.

Most famously, however, Thomas was the voice of the long-running, true-crime show, "Forensic Files." If you're watching an old show about a husband who once ran a rubber-glove factory and enjoyed gardening before his wife mysteriously disappeared, chances are good the voice telling the story belonged to Thomas.

Few voices could bring a sense of impending doom like Thomas', but what many "Forensic Files" viewers may not know is that the narrator of the show dropped more bodies than any perp who ever appeared on it. He also spent the rest of his life telling people about the horrors of war.

Thomas turned 19 in June 1943 and was working at a radio station in his native Florida. He had been working at the station for years before the war. When he was old enough to serve, Thomas' manager secured him a deferment, because the station was retransmitting signals for the Navy.

Thomas was incensed. He immediately went down to the local draft office and joined the Army. On the night of June 6, 1944, he was sent to Normandy in the first wave of soldiers replacing combat casualties during the invasion of Europe.

As part of the 1st Infantry Division, also known as “The Big Red One,” in World War II, Thomas fought through France, Belgium and across Germany. He participated in the Battle of Aachen, the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Hürtgen Forest and the Ruhr Pocket. His unit also participated in the liberation of the Nordhausen Concentration Camp in April 1945.

On Oct. 12, 1945, Thomas was discharged from the Army and returned to broadcasting work as fast as he could. Thanks to a connection to Walter Cronkite, he moved to New York and eventually became a producer for "The Jack Paar Show."

"I did that for eight years. They offered me a chance to do the 11 o'clock news. But then corporate sent these contracts over, saying I couldn't do anything but CBS news programs," Thomas told Florida’s Naples Daily News. "I wanted to do documentaries and commercials as well and didn't want to limit myself. It wasn't for me. Later, Walter told me I made the right decision."

Aside from those commercials, Thomas made a number of war documentaries on everything from World War I to the Vietnam War. He would later win an Oscar for lending his voice to the HBO documentary, "One Survivor Remembers," about Gerda Weissmann Klein, who survived Nordhausen and was liberated by Thomas and his unit.

His most-watched work is "Forensic Files," which debuted on TLC in 1996 and ran until 2011. Thomas would narrate all 403 hours of the show, and as it became an international hit, so did its narrator. Fans can still watch the show on HLN or YouTube.

Thomas was active in the veteran community during his 70-year career in broadcasting. He was a member of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation and revisited the beaches for the 50th anniversary of the invasion. His voice also guides the audio tour of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

His health began to fail after the death of his longtime wife, Stella, in 2014. The two were high school sweethearts and married in 1946. Thomas died on April 30, 2016, at age 91.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, or on LinkedIn.

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