Thomas Rockwell was born in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania in May 1923 and attended the Carson Long Military Institute.  He entered Colgate University and transferred to Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania after a year, but withdrew before the end of his first term in the fall of 1941. 

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in December 1941 but ultimately trained as an infantry officer at Fort Benning, Georgia, earning his commission in November 1943.  Rockwell later trained as a paratrooper and toured the country with a group of parachute infantry jumpers promoting war loans.  He was assigned to Europe in August 1944.  Rockwell was reported as missing in action on December 24, 1944 and confirmed as killed in action on January 12, 1945.