Thomas J. Lawson
Royal Canadian Air Force general
General Thomas James Lawson (born November 2, 1957) is a retired Royal Canadian Air Force general. Lawson was Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces from October 2012 to July 2015. He previously served as Deputy Commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command.
Family and early life
Thomas James Lawson was born on November 2, 1957 in Etobicoke, Ontario. His father George Lawson (1920–2011) was a fighter pilot during World War II, flying Mustang and Spitfire aircraft in the fighter-reconnaissance role with 239 Squadron of the RAF and 414 Squadron of the RCAF. His grandfather, Norman Moran (1895–1973), was a fighter pilot during World War I, flying Sopwith Camels.
Military career
Cadet officer
Lawson enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1975, attending the Royal Military College in Kingston. In 1976, he was awarded the Queen’s University Challenge Shield as the top First Year Cadet. While at RMC, Lawson was a member of the College swim and cross-country running teams. In 1978, he was selected to be the Cadet Wing Commander for his final year. In 1979, Lawson graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering, majoring in Electrical Engineering.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thomas J. Lawson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.