Rear Adm. Thomas G. Lilly (Tom) is a native of Belzoni, Mississippi and a May 1955 graduate of Tulane University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a commission as Ensign SC USN through the NROTC scholarship program.  He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Mississippi. He is a graduate of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANTFLT), Senior Naval Reserve Orientation Course and the Executive Program in National and International Security, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. 

Upon graduation from the Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, GA, in September 1955, Lilly was assigned as disbursing and assistant supply officer aboard USS Betelgeuse (AK 260), in supporting the Sixth Fleet. He then served as the ship’s supply and disbursing officer. He also served briefly as the ship’s C.I.C. officer. In October 1957, he reported to Naval Air Station, Sanford, FL, as disbursing officer and assistant to the supply & fiscal officer, where he was released from active duty in May 1958. 

Lilly then joined the Naval Reserve upon entering law school in June 1958.  His Naval Reserve assignments included supply officer, Air Wing Staff 79 and later supply officer of Naval Air Reserve Division 791, Naval Air Station, Memphis, TN.  In 1974, he was appointed Commanding Officer, Advanced Supply Base 109, New Orleans. While in that position, he was appointed exercise commander of a nationwide Naval Reserve training exercise at NCBC Gulfport, MS, for Supply Corps reserve officers and enlisted personnel of eighteen Advanced Supply Base units. 

Lilly was promoted to Rear Adm. in March 1981 and appointed Program Monitor for the Naval Reserve Cargo Handling Program.  He served in the development of a loosely structured organization of one active-duty command and six independent Navy Reserve cargo handling battalions into a coordinated fifteen command Navy Cargo Handling Force, where he was named Commander Naval Reserve Cargo Handling Force.  Lilly   retired from the Naval Reserve in March 1988. In 2020, he was elected the first honorary member of "Les Américains et la 6e Flotte à Villefranche-sur-Mer" (The French phrase for "The Americans and the 6th Fleet at Villefranche-sur-Mer"). 

His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. Navy Occupation Service Medal (Europe) and Armed Forces Reserve Medal.

In his civilian career, Lilly practiced law for 44 years, including four years as Assistant U.S. Attorney, Northern District of MS.  He served seven years as a national officer of the Federal Bar Association, including president for the year 1979-1980. 
 

Last Updated: 20 February 2025