Thomas Latimore was born in Tennessee on June 28, 1890, and entered the United States Naval Academy in 1910.

[2] After a brief time at Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C., Latimore was given the command of the destroyer tender USS Dobbin in April 1941 at Pearl Harbor.

Soon afterwards, a Yeoman Second Class, Kenneth Isaacs, who was assigned to Dobbin, recalled that Latimore "came back to the ship, and he had an arm wound which he said he hurt in a fall.

51 year-old Latimore was last seen heading into the Aiea Mountains wearing his khaki uniform, an old hat and a walking stick.

[5] His disappearance was never explained and was the subject of much local news coverage and rumor before being overshadowed by the Pearl Harbor attack.