The last casualty to die whilst on active service, Thomas died nearly four months after the victory in Europe that heralded the end of the war.  Like many of his comrades from Filey he had spent the war serving in the Royal Naval Patrol Service out at sea and had based from Granton, on the Firth of Forth for the duration of this period.

          The ship he served aboard, the H.M.S. Rehearo, was a designated mine sweeper that swept the Atlantic coastline around Northern England and Scotland for any mines that might have been laid during the course of the war.  Even though the war had ended Thomas’ duties would have continued, as active mines still posed a major threat for any vessels sailing in the waters around the UK coastline, and this unfortunately to be Thomas’ undoing.  Whilst on a routine detail, the Rehearo struck a mine off several miles off the coast and was sunk although another vessel spotted the debris and managed to recover the crew’s bodies.  Thomas’ body was returned to his home town and he was laid to rest the following week in St. Oswald’s churchyard.  He was the son of William and Margaret Coultas.