James Burdette Thayer (March 10, 1922 – September 16, 2018) was an American brigadier general who served on active duty during World War II.

On May 4, 1945, Thayer and his platoon discovered and liberated 15,000 people held at a concentration camp near Wels, Austria.

In his civilian life, Thayer founded a successful business supply company in Beaverton, Oregon.

He entered service at the Presidio of Monterey as an infantry private, but was selected for Officer Candidate School shortly after induction.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant on October 3, 1944, and assigned to a front line anti-tank company in the 71st Infantry Division, which was operating in Normandy at the time.

[3][6] Thayer returned to the University of Oregon after the war, graduating in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.

After a nurses' strike and a management shakeup, Thayer agreed to step in and serve as the hospital's interim president.

During that short period, Thayer not only restored harmony to the staff, he also increased the hospital's annual earnings by $4.1 million.

A year later, he represented the Secretary of Defense at a World War II commemoration ceremony held by the Austrian government.

At the ceremony, Thayer was personally recognized for his role in liberating the Gunskirchen Lager concentration camp.

The award recognized him for saving thousands of starving people held at the Gunskirchen Lager concentration camp.

An oral account of Thayer's experience during the liberation of the Gunskirchen camp is archived at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, District of Columbia.

Previous recipients of the award include: Nobel Prize winner, Walter Brattain; Nike cofounders, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight; long-time Congresswoman, Edith Green; film producer, James Ivory; and author, Ken Kesey.

In 2014 and again in 2017, Kiss gave special performances in the Portland area to raise money for a new 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) facility to house the Oregon Military Museum.